Thread by @Boochibooch

One of the complaints I've received for my interracial statistics thread is that the data for racial preferences on online dating platforms is outdated and therefor unreliable. So here are a few of the most up-to-date studies I could find that I think are interesting. 🧵

After public reactions to the data released by Christian Rudder, the founder of OKcupid, in his book Dataclysm: Who We Are (When We Think No One's Looking), almost all stats regarding racial preferences on online dating platforms have been made unavailable to the public after 2014. I won't speculate as to why.

From his own website, to Tinder, Facebook, and Match, there's been no updated information.
However, this hasn't stopped people from researching the topic using either mock tinder apps or through other means of statistical analysis.

First, here's a 2021 study using a mock tinder platform, by William J Chopik et al.

"Attractiveness and race were nearly double the influence from other things...

"While attractiveness played a major role in the participants' decisions to swipe left or right, race was a leading factor."

The second study I found interesting was from Masaryk University in Russia, "How Tinder changes dating: The differences between online and offline dating among Russian Generation Z" (2022).

The goal of this study was to gain an in-depth understanding of online dating preferences among Gen Z Russians.

There was a lot of information gathered here using in-depth interviews from a wide selection of people, but the main thing I found interesting about this study was the question: "who do gen-z regard as dateable" and how does that effect mate selection both online and offline.

Of the many patterns they found, "The other user's "dateability" is heavily influenced by racial preferences..."
This was so pronounced that it applied to almost every zoomer interviewed.
"Consequently, almost everyone stated that they would never swipe right on someone of a different race."

What's more, this applied even to those who believed it to be discriminatory.

Secondly, a persons looks, or "sexual capital." Followed by communication talents, "like bio's first 'hook' comedy and the capacity to hold interesting dialogues."

According to the study, some of the zoomers, when questioned about racial preferences, caused discomfort on the interviewees "for whom this issue was actual." Some were hesitant to confess that they tend not to swipe right on other races.

The study then cites another study, "The "preference" paradox: Disclosing racial preferences in attraction is considered racist even by people who overtly claim it is not (2019). This study showed that, even among the vast majority of people who tend to prefer their own race, there is a stigma in revealing this. It's seen as discriminatory and "low status." Thus a gap emerges between stated and revealed preference.

He then goes on to say that Russians have "a strong opinion about the white race," suggesting that Russian believe the white race is superior to other races. He goes on to cite a BBC article about how racism in Russia is "out of control."

Interestingly, Russian zoomers had a preference for Western Europeans. Dating a French or Italian would be considered a bragging right.

"Interviewees are preferencing partners from more developed countries than their own."

"Nevertheless, some interviews were more radical in terms of racial preferences. 24-years-old Polina says about her preferences:"

"That is my private, maybe racial preferences. But I have never been on dates with Asians--not my type. I do not think I would go on a date even if he were from my community."

"When asked if Polina would go on a date with a person of a different race, 23-years-old Ekaterina comments:"

"I swipe right people from different countries here, in Moscow. I like this experience. But I would not swipe people of specific race or nationalities. Asians or Indians. Because I do not sexually prefer them, and they do not attract me to create a bond with them."

According to the study, "In the views of Russian Zoomers, black cultural capital tends to be seen as non-dominant, with low social worth, "thus Zoomers are hesitating swiping black people right on dating applications."

It then goes on to reason "Russian children do not see black people when growing up, as children in the USA, so they absorb pictures of black people from Russian pop culture. This shows black people with low social capital...not as intelligent, aggressive, and not physically attractive people."

He then states "Zoomers see more educated, handsome, and kind black people in new films on the internet, their social capital is high there, however, for zoomers, these people are far away to oversee.

Nevertheless, it states: "When facing black people by themselves, even on dating platforms, they think about black people with low social capital. Additionally, Russian people tend to higher themselves, like white people, in the racial hierarchy of social capital."

In other words, the study theorizes Russians have racial preferences due to "sexual racism". The study then goes on to talk about the impact racism has on the lives and self-esteem of racial minorities, such as blacks and Asians living in Russia.

This study and the interviews in it were conducted by Matin Binnatov. He is from Azerbaijan, a former Soviet satellite located on the border of West Asia. This may explain why he feels racism is behind racial preferences among Russian zoomers.

The third study I found is from 2022 in Denmark.

Both race and attractiveness were the most important factors in partner choice on a dating app. Higher educated users were more likely to pick profiles mentioning a university.

The study wanted to figure out if cultural or racial similarity was more important. Or as the study puts it "This study examines whether principles of assortative mating--people's tendency to select partners similar to them--apply to dating apps, or whether the reduced cue environment used on these apps leads users to choose more heterogeneous partners."

On the mock dating app, partners were either White or non-White, relatively low or high educated, and possessed an ethnically Dutch or non-Dutch name.

The goal was to see if non-White profiles with Dutch names would be more likely to be chosen over White, non-Dutch names. However, according to the study:

"Users with Dutch ancestry are more likely to pick profiles of White users, but not profiles of users with a Dutch-sounding name"

Race was a far bigger factor than whether or not you had a Dutch last name, or shared the same culture.

Lastly, a 2022 study from Ohio State University examined the patterns in racial dating preferences using three hypotheses from different theoretical perspectives on interracial dating: the same-race hypothesis, stereotyping hypothesis, and status hypothesis.

It found that people are more willing to date those form their own racial group and moderately strong evidence that people use racial stereotypes when evaluating dating partners.

Using a mock dating app simulation, Study 1 and 2 showed that men were more likely to date women from positively stereotyped and high status groups (ie, Asians and Whites); Study 1 showed women liked men from positively stereotyped groups, but status was less of a factor. Study 3 showed a tendency for women to be more willing to date men from positively stereotyped groups.

"These findings illustrate the ways in which race can influence romantic attraction."

According to this study, "White women particularly had strong same-race preferences, as there were clear differences between White profile likes and each of the three races."

Latina liked White men over Black and Asian men, but not over Latinos.

Asian women preferred Asian men over Black men, but there was no clear evidence of preference among the other groups.

Black women did not show clear evidence of preference for any group.

"We found strong evidence that race indeed matters in preferences for dating partners. This pattern was evidence for men and women and the only group in which this pattern was not clear was among Black participants.

Among men, we also found a clear preference for White and Asian dating partners. This preference might have resulted from preferences for high status dating partners, or gender-based stereotypes favoring White and Asian partners."

White women and Latinas exhibited similar patterns of whom they were willing to date"

"They were more willing to date White men than Asian and Black men, and had a similar willingness to date Asian men and Black men.

In Contrast, Asian women were more willing to date White men and Asian men than black men.

Black women reported similar willingness to date men from all three racial groups.

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