Monday, March 24, 2008
Difficulties of being in an interracial relationship
7 comments
In this article, Heather Wood ponders interracial relationships, and to what degree people accept them today. She admits that we are improving, with the amount of interracial couples in the U.S. increasing from .07% in 1960 to 7% today, but she maintains that there is still too much social stigma around partners of different races.Bob Jones University in South Carolina only dropped its ban on interracial dating in 2000; a year later 40 percent of voters objected when Alabama became the last state to remove a ban on interracial marriages from its constitution. So, yes, we've still got some work to do.
I agree. To me, just the fact that people still use the phrase "jungle fever" shows that we still have some work to do. People are too quick to settle - just because things have improved and people are more accepting than they were 40 years ago doesn't mean that we can sit back and say that our work is done. Heather Wood also talks about the lack of racially-mixed couples in mainstream movies and TV shows. Very true. No one can seriously argue that there isn't a lack of interracial couples in Hollywood. And on many films and shows that do feature interracial couples, the plot is often entirely about the repercussions of being in a "mixed" relationship.
However, many people maintain that race is only such a big issue because we make it a big issue. At the end of her piece, Wood explores some of these alternative views. Author Carine Fabius claims:
"The reason so many find it so hard to be in interracial relationships is because, in my opinion, there is still entirely too much emphasis on and preoccupation with race. Obviously, racism still exists, but everything isn't about race -- unless we continue to make it so."
Thoughts?
Posts
March 25, 2008 at 1:34 AM
Interesting thoughts. I think that some people only consider interracial relationships as being white/black, and maybe that's why the statistics are still so low. I consider any mix of races as being interracial, such as hispanic/white, asian/hispanic, black/asian, and so on. If these relationships were considered as interracial as black/white, I think the numbers would be much higher, (and we'd have more kids considered biracial). Great post!
March 26, 2008 at 1:44 PM
Men and women enter relationships with somewhat different life experiences based on gender and sex roles, and adding race to that could complicate somewhat more, but I agree race is an issue because people make it an issue. I see nothing inherent about race that would cause difficulty in a relationship. Even the differences I mentioned above are human-created.
June 6, 2008 at 4:42 PM
I agree. Not everything is about race and interracial relationships shouldn't be an issue, especially today.
November 4, 2010 at 10:44 PM
I'm a white woman who is in a relatioship with a black man who has a child together. It's very hard being with a person of a nother color.
May 4, 2011 at 12:43 PM
you don't have the several problem that I had to be with actual girl, let me explain you, I'm Latin and my girl is American, her fathers hate me for be Latin, so the only solution that I found in that moment, was take her away from here.
January 12, 2012 at 2:16 AM
I think that some people only consider interracial relationships as being white/black, and maybe that's why the statistics are still so low.
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