[A_COMPUTER]

Many people say yes it is racist:

  http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2014/04/okcupid_and_race_is_it_racist_to_date_only_people_of_your_own_race.html
  http://www.racialicious.com/2009/10/09/of-okcupid-and-denials-of-racism/
  http://everydayfeminism.com/2013/11/racial-preferences-are-racist/
  http://www.rolereboot.org/sex-and-relationships/details/2013-11-if-you-wont-date-people-of-a-certain-race-youre-raci

In some cases it is only yes if you are white.

[deciplex]

All four of those articles go out of their way not to discuss any particular races at all, in the context of dating. Of the four, I think the one on everydayfeminism.com probably gets it the best: it's okay to have preferences, same as you might for hair or eye color or height or whatever else, but depending on the strictness of your adherence to your "rule" - yes it's racist.

So the articles you've linked are fine, IMO.

However I do get the sense and agree with you, that for a great many people it's only racist if you're white, and that for other ethnicities racially-exclusionary dating is fine. Mainly I think that's because most people haven't given it much thought.

[jrs99]

then if you're not a racist in dating, you're still probably a racist in something else in terms of the degree they're thinking.

[colmvp]

Regarding that Slate article:

> In a somewhat similar vein, one of OkCupid’s questions reads as follows: “Would you strongly prefer to go out with someone of your own skin color/racial background?” I was struck by the not inconsiderable number of people who answered “yes”—including some people I know “in real life,” many of whom are hilariously self-righteous about their enlightened political views.

I don't see why that's surprising. Marriage stats in the U.S. still show that people (even minorities) generally marry those of the same race. Is it really surprising that people have a higher preference to connect with those with a similar culture and appearance?

[codygman]

> In some cases it is only yes if you are white.

The reason that this can be true and decidedly not wrong is because of white privilege[0].

0: http://racismschool.tumblr.com/post/55307010922/what-is-whit...