I have seen Asian women more than others dating men out of their race. I know Arab men like Caucasian women. And Caucasian men like Asian women. But are these my stereotype of people or is there any proof to backup these observations? Actually, numbers from two dating sites say I might be right.
The data teams at dating apps Are You Interested and OkCupid analyzed millions of interactions to see the extent to which race played a role in determining response rates. [Source]
Researchers at AYI.com analyzed over 2.4 million interactions among its current user base in the United States. Here are some of these interesting findings:
- The study revealed that men replied most to Asian women with the exception of Asian men who responded most to Latino women.
- All-women except black women responded most to advances from white men.
- White men preferred most other races over white women.
And OkCupid findings are:
- White women are very selective even though they were the second least popular female group after black women.
- White men respond 20 percent less often than other men even though they received and most replies one in 3.4 women.
- Middle Eastern women are overwhelmingly the most popular group one in two men write back.
- Middle Eastern men are the least picky responding 49.7 percent of the time.
- Overall users tended to date within their own race with the exception of Asian women.
Now, although these are interesting studies both are based in the United States. So I am not sure if the data samples although huge can be generalized. For example, AYI found Asian women the most popular while OkCupid found Middle Eastern women the most popular.
You can watch the video for more racial preferences:
With the world becoming a small village there is no doubt interracial marriages are on the rise. And according to National Geographic Americans in 2050 will look super beautiful as below:
J A R A A D S 
And that`s y numbers/stats and I have a no-no relationship, lol
Thanks Malik, interesting indeed. I would love to see what -if any- drawbacks such studies have and/or if they were selective in highlighting certain data from other data (apologies 4 my conspiracy-element that keeps popping :D)
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I noticed u had a bolded line, I wonder why ;P
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okcupid! Now that`s new to me 🙂
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There are two bold lines:
1. The study revealed that men replied most to Asian women.
2. Middle Eastern women are overwhelmingly the most popular group.
I found these two statements contradicting. Right? The first is from AYI and the second from OkCupid.
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No, number 1 means that Asian women INITIATED contact with men, and the men replied back to them the most (as opposed to ignoring or rejecting them) whereas number 2 means that Middle Eastern women RECEIVED initial contact from the most amount of men. Make sense?
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Yes, you are right actually.
Thanks for your comment.
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I didn`t notice the 1st one nor the mixed finding! I thought u were hinting -as a joke- to women in our region 😀
I think it is extremely hard to draw insights on such topics; too much factors to control for. Nevertheless, it gives us some indications, no doubt about that!
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Interesting findings! Thanks for your report! 🙂
A friend of mine in Germany has an Italian friend about his age (30ish), and Italian guy (who grew up in Germany) is still single, doesn’t even seem to have a girlfriend. I asked my friend why and he said, Italian guy doesn’t want to marry a German woman. Says he wants to a woman who will agree to let him be the head of the house, the leader. Apparently German woman won’t do that.
I’ve heard a white American man say he wanted to date an Asian woman because they take care of their men. By that he means serves them. And years ago when I first met my Syrian friend, he told me that “they” (whoever the “they” are in the Arab world) advised them not to marry Western women, but stick with Syrian women who will greet them at the door with a nice cup of tea.
Maybe that contributes to why white and black women aren’t as sought after in some circles.
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Thanks for your examples Susanne. I don`t have any idea about what/how Italians or German view the “roles” in their household so that was a good info for me to start with.
I have heard a lot of “myths” about women treating their spouses in the Arab world but the tea at door step is new to me! (I`m from Jordan and have many relatives from Syria but still never heard that one before) 🙂
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So maybe that’s a slight exaggeration on my part…or the way I heard it being one of those non-serving-type white women from the US! 😉 😀 😛
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I wouldn`t be that surprized to learn it is actually true! 🙂
*non-serving-type = aren`t u all? Y the exclusion to US white women 😛 *joke*
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Hey, watch it, buddy!
Hahaha! 😀
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I fear no one! (unless u r affiliated with my dear wife`s online-spy association). U r not, *gulp*, right? 😦
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I don’t thing your example of “the wife waiting with a nice cup of tea” is an exaggeration.
Many wives -in different cultures – could be yelled at or even beaten if the husband comes back from work and didn’t find his well prepared and cooked food on the table.
But I have to say the world is changing rapidly.Currently, more women in the Arab world than ever before work. And luckily, the image of an abusive husband is fading away, at least one would hope.
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I wonder how much of the perceived preference for women from these cultures is based on the stereotypes of those cultures? It can’t be ignored that the two preferred groups both have a reputation for the women being submissive, at least in Western dialogues. As opposed to the dialogue a lot of men are fed here from the conservative groups which is that women have forgotten their places and are more interested in their careers than in keeping a house and raising a family (which is where they belong, don’t you know? lol).
It’s kind of funny, when I was growing up (lo those many centuries ago), we were basically warned not to date outside our race. Stories about how black men treated their women, about Hispanics and their bad treatment and inability to provide for a good household, Middle Eastern men who would marry you and abuse you and then steal your children when they decided to go back and marry a ‘proper’ wife.
I’m glad that more people are willing to look for a spouse outside of the circle of people who look and think and act just like them, I just wish I could believe that it was because they saw that all people are just as human instead of them falling for a false idea of who those people are.
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I think your reasoning for women race popularity makes sense.
I do think interracial marriage is something unique and will spice the couple’s life. More cultures and customs to learn. Besides, children of interracial couples are the cutest.
In one the Seinfeld episodes, Elaine and her boyfriend broke up after they both found they are white. This was so funny.
But after all I think the stereotype of a race could be played down once the couple learn everything about each others before marriage.
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I’d agree that an interracial couple would have more to learn from one another than a couple that both came from the exact same background. There has to be a lot more willingness to adapt in those circumstances and everyone can benefit.
It’s important in any relationship for the couple to learn about one another and where they’re each coming from before marriage – sadly it’s a step most people skip these days. And definitely learning about other people is the only way to realize that racial stereotypes are just so much crap.
And the kids are the cutest.
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Amber, the only races that seemed to be around my area when I was younger were blacks and whites. After they got past justifying interracial relationships as taboo from the Bible (finally!), those who spoke against interracial dating were more like: “well, it’s tough for the children. Black people don’t fully accept whites, and white people don’t fully accept blacks. Where will this leave the children? As part of what culture? They will always be outsiders.”
But I think for the most part even that excuse has fallen by the wayside among most people. I would be foolish to think this mindset has been eradicated. I haven’t asked outright, but am pretty sure I know some people who would be appalled if someone they knew married someone from a different race (especially blacks and Latinos.)
Haitham, no worries! I am not part of any spy rings. (Like I’d admit it if I were. 🙂 )
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Susanne- From what I have seen, an interracial couple of the same religion seems doing well in their marriage. On the other hand, I have seen many interfaith marriages end with divorce.
I believe there is less drama in interracial marriages than in interracial marriages.
p.s. By interfaith marriage I mean one of the couple is a Muslim. Other interfaith marriages I have no idea if they can keep their marriage or not.
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I’m in the commenting mood, clearly. I would think that an interracial couple with a common religion would do better than one without it because the religion gives them something to fall back on if they come across cultural differences that they hadn’t anticipated.
I know some interfaith couples that seem to work but none of them are observant in their particular faiths so I’m not sure how much they count. If both members of a marriage are active in their respective faiths I can see a lot of conflict coming up – especially when it comes to raising the children.
Personally I think that interfaith marriages have more problems than any other kind of mixed couple.
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Amber – Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I do agree with you that interfaith couples are less observant of their religion.
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Clearly, I like when you are in a commenting mood, Amber.
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Susanne, we had a slightly more diverse population around here when I was growing up, but only slightly. It was never really couched in terms of how hard it would be for the children, at least to me. It was definitely that the other races/cultures didn’t have good values and wouldn’t treat women the way they should be treated. Given that most of this was coming from my step-father, I figured out pretty quickly that it was a load of crap. It certainly wasn’t an attitude isolated to just him though.
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Love novels always describe the male protagonist as tall-dark-handsome man. Which I think is not a Caucasian man but more of a South American man. Something contradicts what really women want according to the study above.
And from your (Amber and Susanne) reasoning about the popularity of Asian and Middle Eastern women can we say the white man is most popular because women link power to him?
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Power? Hmmm, maybe. Or perhaps because they (white men) stereotypically aren’t seen as so demanding of their women? I don’t know. But if we think some cultures don’t treat women as equally then maybe they think white = western = better rights for women. Yeah, generalizing, but I’m just trying to think like someone searching on a dating site.
For the fun of it, I googled “tall dark handsome” and saw what Google Images offered. not too bad…until you find Osama bin Laden in there. 🙂 Of course that is arguably better than googling “caucasian men” and finding Rush Limbaugh’s mug.
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I always thought that the ‘dark’ part referred more to their hair color when I was young! 🙂 But it’s true that the love interests do tend to be described with darker complexions. I think it has to do with the fantasy aspect of that kind of book. You’re not generally reading those to hear about your own life or the lives of your friends and neighbors. You want to have something a bit more…exotic and exciting, I guess. And that’s why these fictional men tend to have a bit of ‘other’ about them. But all they are are escapes and fantasies. They’re not necessarily what women look for in real life.
Very few women want an actual pirate in real life, however handsome he may be. They want someone who they think will provide stability and a good home for the family. I think there’s a conception of white men as the ‘pinnacle’ (though that is fading) and able to provide all the things that women might want in a spouse. There’s the idea of being powerful, certainly, but also the automatic privilege that comes from being a white man in the US.
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“There’s the idea of being powerful, certainly, but also the automatic privilege that comes from being a white man in the US.”
Susanne- I think Amber explained it better than me. I meant white man’s influence or privilege. C. L. Louis an American comedian has a very funny clip about how awesome it is being white 🙂
p.s. I found it very funny but didn’t post it to Facebook because of his foul language.
Amber- You are very right about how we think of others as more exotic. And this was the thesis of a book written by a Turkish professor (forgot its name) about how Orientalists exaggerated in their description of the ‘Harem’ culture to sell more books. I do agree with his thesis. Yes, the ‘Harem’ culture existed but maybe not as the West like to believe. It is more of a fantasy than reality. I also think that polygamy practice may have exploited the idea.
I like this discussion! Thank you all for sharing your thoughts.
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it is often said in the Arab world, if you want heaven, marry a Syrian woman; if you want hell, marry an Egyptian woman, with my apologies to all Egyptian women
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I haven’t heard this one before. I wonder how it is originated 🙂
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Probably from Jameelah’s father who married both a Syrian and an Egyptian and lived to tell about it.
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hahaha… Yes, maybe 🙂
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hahahaa, BIG probability there 🙂
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