Interracial Dating - the Never Ending Blending

The Never Ending Blending

Sociology 101

Introduction

In the past few years there have been numerous studies and hundreds of research about interracial dating. People may wonder why there are studies for such a seemingly simple topic. After all, the media has now targeted gay and lesbian marriages so it would seem as if that topic would over shadow interracial dating. But because it does not get the main attention does not mean it is not an issue to many. There are millions of civilians who have come to accept the idea of dating outside their own ethnicity and would like to spread the idea of multiculturalism. On the flipside, however, there are still millions who still hold the belief that one must engage within their own race to preserve one’s own heritage, culture, and traditions.

But there are questions that still remain: Is interracial dating good for society? Is it bad for society? Is it right or is it wrong? Which social factors affect the standards of interracial dating? Social standards also influence both attitudes and actions toward interracial dating. Social standards in one’s environment may influence a person’s decision on what their own thoughts may be on dating among different races. Look at the environment in the border state of Arizona for instance. According to the latest census, Arizona is the fastest growing state and has grown to a population of more than six million. Arizona has a large Caucasian population with a rising Hispanic population, along with African-Americans, Asians, and has the 3rd highest population of Native Americans. With an environment where there are more diverse groups of people, interracial dating may be more accepted. Although interracial dating has gone up in the past two decades there are still racial barriers. However, due to the rise of multiculturism, there are many who are on the edge for a culture change.

Blending

In Glendale, Arizona, there is a high school that holds 2,121 students: 57% are White Caucasian, 16% are Black or African-American descent, 22% are Hispanic or from Mexico, and the remaining percentage is made up of Native American and Asian descendents. Tonya Huang is a 17 year junior at this school. Her ethnicity includes Japanese, Chinese, and Cherokee. She’s about 5’7”, weighs 121 lbs and plays on the women’s varsity basketball team. With brown skin, dark brown hair and brown eyes she was one of the most popular students on campus. She was in a relationship with a young named Greg Stackhouse. Greg is 18 and a senior at this high school. He is 6’3”, weights 221 lbs and is captain of the Men’s varsity basketball team. His ethnicity is dominantly African-American with a little bit of German. He has dark brown skin, dark brown eyes and is bald on top of his dome. Craig and Tonya have been dating for 14 months and they seem to be happy together. But most people don’t see the conflict that interracial dating may develop. At first Tonya’s parents were not happy about the person she chose to date. They wished that she would look for a smart and handsome Asian that was already in College and had career goals. Over the past months, however, her parents and the rest of her family have come to accept Craig and the idea of multiculturism. The story was not the same for Craig. His parents and most of the family had an unrealistic concept of “if they aren’t black, they’re white”. Craig’s mother was very disappointed in him for choosing to date someone of non-African-American heritage and was very against the blending of two different races. Although Craig heard what is mother and other members of his family had to say, it did not alter his decision. His family still will not recognize the relationship and hope that Craig is just going through a phase that will eventually fade away as he attends a university next year. (Fiebert, 87)

Why is that Tonya’s family accepts the relationship while Craig’s family openly denies it? You see interracial couples everywhere -- in videos, on Grey's Anatomy, grinning through commercials, sashaying through movies, beaming from ads, walking down the street. Interracial relationships are everywhere. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, interracial marriages more than doubled from 1980-2000, from 651,000 to 1.46 million. That's a lot of intermingling. Rosalind Cummings-Yeates gives an answer to this question. In here article “Interracial Dating:Five Myths, Five Facts” she states that while acceptance has increased and interracial dating occurs more often than it did decades ago, only a small percentage of people actually marry someone from another race or