A Psychology Today article went up on the 15th seeking to show and explain that black women are less physically attractive than others races. The link below "shows," among other things, that black women are average looking (but less attractive than other races' women) but have an inflated sense of self-image (compared to other races' women).
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-scientific-fundamentalist/201105/why-are-black-women-less-physically-attractive-other-women&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a
(Edit: Note that the original post was taken down. Oddly enough it generated some controversy!)
The article concludes with this conjecture:
Quote:
There are many biological and genetic differences between the races. However, such race differences usually exist in equal measure for both men and women. For example, because they have existed much longer in human evolutionary history, Africans have more mutations in their genomes than other races. And the mutation loads significantly decrease physical attractiveness (because physical attractiveness is a measure of genetic and developmental health). But since both black women and black men have higher mutation loads, it cannot explain why only black women are less physically attractive, while black men are, if anything, more attractive.
The only thing I can think of that might potentially explain the lower average level of physical attractiveness among black women is testosterone. Africans on average have higher levels of testosterone than other races, and testosterone, being an androgen (male hormone), affects the physical attractiveness of men and women differently. Men with higher levels of testosterone have more masculine features and are therefore more physically attractive. In contrast, women with higher levels of testosterone also have more masculine features and are therefore less physically attractive. The race differences in the level of testosterone can therefore potentially explain why black women are less physically attractive than women of other races, while (net of intelligence) black men are more physically attractive than men of other races.
The only thing I can think of that might potentially explain the lower average level of physical attractiveness among black women is testosterone. Africans on average have higher levels of testosterone than other races, and testosterone, being an androgen (male hormone), affects the physical attractiveness of men and women differently. Men with higher levels of testosterone have more masculine features and are therefore more physically attractive. In contrast, women with higher levels of testosterone also have more masculine features and are therefore less physically attractive. The race differences in the level of testosterone can therefore potentially explain why black women are less physically attractive than women of other races, while (net of intelligence) black men are more physically attractive than men of other races.
This ties into (OMG CROSS-THREAD SHENANIGANS!) the conversation about Hawking insulting religion, where I posited that science explains the "how" and not the "why" of the world - and scientists who attempt to explain the "why" are going outside the boundary of their experiments unless they are specifically researching the subjective reasons people do something. I feel this is the exact same case. BUT! That's no fun!
In general, do you have a racial preference, or disposition? I find I mostly date white girls, although my current girlfriend is Filipino and I have traditionally found Indians really attractive. I'd say this is more to do with groups than anything else - this area has a lot of white girls and less of other races (maybe 70% white, 15% Hispanic, 15% other minorities). The town I grew up in was 97% white (well, the school was - we had statistics on it!). Even my Alma Mater was around 80% white. So the folks I interact with regularly are mostly white.
Edited, May 20th 2011 8:11pm by LockeColeMA
from me, for a few reasons. Right off the get, I'm always skeptical whenever someone suggests that there's objectivity to attractiveness.