[trustfundbaby]

I'm black. I don't think its like that at all.

I think its just years of living in a society that subtly signals x = attractive, and y = unnattractive. After a while you imbibe those ideals and lock them in and it can be really really really difficult to undo them in your brain.

I'm black and I've dated women of lots of different ethnicities, and I'm just going off fly-on-the-wall observations of their friends/family and even their behavior to other black guys.

It is pretty fascinating stuff ... albeit a bit depressing being black

[colmvp]

Exactly.

It's funny, often on HN I'll see discussions about things or behaviors that push girls away from exploring STEM later in life.

Yet, how many times have I seen black women depicted in the media as boorish, unfeminine, annoying, unhealthy, or angry? Can I honestly say that it hasn't in some way affected my preferences as an adult? How can I say that my preferences are untouchable and mysteriously influenced when in fact it does fall in line with that of these statistics and the way that certain people are represented.

[mindslight]

I don't see how that directly applies to what I've said. Racism in general is perpetuated by that kind of social conditioning. People incorporate the biases from their memetic environment and reference them as universal truths when it can benefit them.

We shouldn't corrupt a term by pretending it doesn't apply just to appease the consciences of shallow thinkers.

[codygman]

> I'm black. I don't think its like that at all.

I'd like to remind everyone this is one data point from someone who is black. I'm sure trustfundbaby didn't mean for what they said to be extrapolated to every black person in the world.