Open Thread: Black Women are less physically attractive than other women.

Jennifer Kesler,

It looks from the site that what PT does is vet someone (clearly not well) and then give them unlimited, unedited, posting access. The author of the first article posted using that access, and then the internet went rightfully apeshit, and the article was pulled. I’m guessing PT and the author of the second article went “Quick! Someone has to say something!” I think it’s less a publicity stunt and more the result of the world’s most nonsensical editing policy and poorly done covering of asses. I might just be undeservedly generous. Clearly they don’t think sexism, pseudo-science, speculation, and racism are a reason not to keep someone from having unedited access in the first place.

SkepChick has also taken this article on.

T, I don’t understand what you were trying to tell me. Though obviously, my link above extrapolated just from reading the headline to this. I was just reminded of how “black women prefer white men” or “black women are less attractive” might also be a result of skewed demographics.

Beauty is a standard that differs in different societies, because they value different things. Western culture generally worships white people, so *of course* our standards of beauty are based on white women. They are also based on the appearance of wealth– when food was scarce, plump was attractive, now that fast food abounds and organics are more expensive, rail-thin is attractive. The better questions are why a psychology study wasn’t cross-cultural, which to be conclusive it ought to have been, and why women even give a damn about a social construct of the oppressors.

Jenny Islander,

“who says that whites are obviously the pinnacle of humanity because white women have the prettiest breasts”

I…I think I just threw up a little bit in my mouth.

I just recently argued with a friend the other week on Facebook about Patriarchy Today when he linked one of their “definitive” articles “proving” that women go for money, men go for looks. That tired canard for the millionth time, UGH. Even assuming that WERE true, these knuckleheads never bother to look at WHY males might go for looks, females for money. Gee, could it possibly be the centuries of women being barred from everything and having to marry into money if they ever wanted any, and men being trained to view women as some sort of alien sexual commodity who are inferior to them? Attitudes like that can take YEARS to cleanse off the cultural palette but nobody has any goddamn CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS about this stuff!

Jenny Islander,

that guy Stephen Jay Gould quotes in one of his books, who says that whites are obviously the pinnacle of humanity because white women have the prettiest breasts, except he takes about ten times longer to say it.

I’m guessing you mean Charles White:

Ascending the line of gradation, we come at last to the white European; who being most removed from the brute creation, may, on that account, be considered as the most beautiful of the human race. No one will doubt his superiority in intellectual powers; and I believe it will be found that his capacity is naturally superior also to that of every other man. Where shall we find, unless in the European, that nobly arched head, containing such a quantity of brain, and supported by a hollow conical pillar, entering its centre? Where the perpendicular face, the prominent nose, and round projecting chin? Where that variety of features, and fulness of expression; those long, flowing, graceful ringlets; that majestic beard, those rosy cheeks and coral lips? Where that erect posture of the body and noble gait? In what other quarter of the globe shall we find the blush that overspreads the soft features of the beautiful women of Europe, that emblem of modesty, of delicate feelings, and of sense? Where that nice expression of the amiable and softer passions in the countenance; and that general elegance of features and complexion? Where, except on the bosom of the European woman, two such plump and snowy white hemispheres, tipt with vermillion?

–An Account of the Regular Gradation in Man, pp. 134-5

Whence the research that seemed to say that heterosexual men were most attracted to big eyes/broad forehead/small chin and heterosexual women were attracted to symmetrical features regardless of proportion? I take it this was junk science after all?

I’m quite happy to admit, on absolutely no ‘scientific’ basis whatsoever, that *I* find women of all ethnicities equally attractive — and far more attractive than any man!

Seriously, PT is garbage — another example http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/do-the-right-thing/201103/do-we-need-religion-be-ethical.

I just need to chime in and say I <3 calicoes. -Proud keeper of calico kitty.

First of all is this article written by an educated person? Also I found this article to be sexist and racist. Why does the media always come down on black people? If it is not one thing it is another.
Slavery is over and yet this society is still looking for ways and means to bring destroy black people. Whoever wrote this article is ignorant and evil. Stopped spreading garbage.

Sylvia Sybil,

I believe that you are conflating attractive and attraction. People are mostly hard-wired in their attraction, either to the opposite sex, same sex, either sex, or neither sex. That means a guy might might like only women so much so that he even feels awkward expressing an opinion on the looks of another man. But he sure as heck knows which man’s looks make him envious. So even with his exclusive attraction to woman he can evaluate the attractiveness both of men and woman.

REALLY? He’s going to make a blanket statement like that about all black women (based on shoddy research, no less)? That’s just so wrong and hurtful. I’ve read some of Kanazawa’s BS before, and that’s exactly what it was and still is — BS. Evolutionary Psyche as a field has some serious problems, and Kanazawa just seems to use Evo Psyche as an excuse to be as racist, sexist, classist, etc. as he wants, and when someone calls him out, he goes “but look! Science said so!” without real justification. Ugh.

In addition to being more racists crap from him, it’s just so patently untrue! I guess it goes to show how naive I am that this idea came as a surprise to me, but upon further consideration, I could see how this messed up, obviously false idea propagated. Perhaps you did an attractiveness poll, and it showed something about less black 7-year-olds being considered way above average than white 7-year-olds by their teachers (that IS a creepy thing to rate…). Stop and THINK about why the results might be skewed! People look at a bunch of white girls, some of whom are considered pretty, and then see a few black girls who don’t look the same as the pretty white girls, and they decide therefore they must not be pretty — and that’s pretty screwed up. The media constantly reinforces this by telling people is that these skinny white women with certain characteristics == beautiful. Anyone who doesn’t match up == not beautiful. If you are too short, or too “fat”, or your nose is bigger, or *gasp* have some other skin color, or feature type, it’s been slammed into people brains that this is not beautiful. WTF? Yes, there are celebrities that aren’t white, but it’s a smaller number, so the comparison criteria are even smaller. You don’t look like Halle Berry or Beyonce? Too bad. UGH!

*goes off to mutter in the corner*

arnie,

Not to my knowledge, no. Putting aside the fact that testosterone isn’t really a “male” hormone since everyone has some, white women tend to be hairier than black women, so if anything it’s more likely to be the other way around. Kinda wonder why this question is never asked, though.