The Borg Needs A Boyfriend
Remember in Black Books when it was summer time and Bernard said he needed a Summer girlfriend so he'd stop staring at all the girls in thier summer frocks? Wellllll, so that I stop staring at all the Indian and Middle Eastern guys (which is kind of difficult not to do, given that they're everywhere) I need a Melbourne boyfriend that I can toss aside as soon as leave this place...
I'm kidding of course. I don't need a boyfriend. And even if I did, I know enough to know that ethnicity, nay even physical appearance, is not enough determine true, decided love. Of course.
On a lighter note, here is one of my other Melbourne obsessions: Interracial couples. Back home, this didn't happen much except for the token hot Asian chick with geeky Anglo boyfriend. Here, I've noticed patterns and I'm also trying to figure out the determining factors. In a big city, which is the most ethnically diverse in Australia, INTRA-racial dating/marriage is much more common than otherwise. This is because people form ghettos, based around church/religious groups, school and social and familial groups (this is all conjecture m'kay?). Also, there are pressures from your family and widder social group not to inter-marry. There are religious pressures too, which often coincide with race. So, it is unusual and interesting to note interracial couples.
So, here is a hierachy of inter-ethnic couples I have noticed, proportional to the people belonging to that enthic group. Key: A = East Asian, W = White Caucasian, D = Dark Caucasian, B = Africans. F = female, M = male. (No gay couples included - much fewer here than in Sydney)
F A & M W
F A & M D
F W & M D
F D & M W
F A & M B
F W & M B
F W & M A
Other combinations not observed.
It would be interesting and controversial to publish a study attempting to explain such patterns... Any thoughts?
posted by The Borg @ 1:14 PM
13 comments
13 Comments:
This is technically known as anecdotal evidence. ;)
John
Oh yes. I was being "ironic". ;-)
"This is technically known as anecdotal evidence. ;)"
Since when has that deterred publishers??
(See, "The Tipping Point").
Does anyone think that the catagories of my "anecdotal evidence" are problematic? Of course, they're clearly NorthEuropean-o-centric.
Seems pretty good. I don't know that you could say anything concrete and academic about reasons without being slammed as a racist though. Re categories: Where do Middle Eastern people fit in? Were there no West Asian inter-racial couples?
jml
Well, there are only 12 possible inter-racial combinations from your categories. You have observered 7 of them after 1 week in Melbourne. I think it is too early to conclude the others dont exist...
So you saw no Asian/Asian couples? That's interesting. It's also interesting to see the FW/MA couples - I wouldn't think there'd be too many of those, based on my own anecdotal evidence (which is totally scholarly, thankyouverymuch).
So... Indian guys are the go then? ;) Yeah, I think I'm with you there (except with the opposite sex). I think it's the huge, dark eyes, and the dark skin. I would tell you about the Burnie boys, but based on my anecdotal evidence, they don't exist. I've only met girls. I've met about 13-14 girls, and about 2 guys. It's ridiculous. I'm going to join a sports team to meet some guys. Maybe you should do the same ;)
Hmmm...a girl/guy ratio of 7:1??
You poor thing...;-)
BTW Shiloh, what is "true, decided love" ????
Jml, Middle Eastern people fit in with the Dark Caucasians. Indians go there too. I guess West Asian is Middle Eastern.
More shifting sands of anecdotal evidence: I saw quite a few F W & M D today, so they might get moved up the list to 2nd place.
Angus, you're loving it, aren't you? Btw, I don't think you read my post properly. Intra-racial couples, ie white/white, asian/asian, are the norm. Hence I'm dicussing this anomoly.
Craig, that might be a topic for a future post.
It is an interesting topic and one that typically gets avoided. There are all sorts of odd behavior pattern associated with it and I am currious about them. For instance here in America, a couple comprised of a causasian male and an asian female are ubiquitous while couples with a white male and an african-american female is extrordinarilly rare (and perhaps a bit taboo), despite the fact that there are far more african americans than asians. Likewise in all my days I am unsure I have ever seen a latin american and an asian comprise a couple.
I noticed recently that in Hollywood, black women are hardly ever paired with white men, with a few important exceptions. I have a totally uninformed faux-sociological explanation for this.
I think the reason is not because they're racist and so they don't want a white man to be sold short. I think it's the other extreme - political corectness. I guess they're afraid of looking like they're giving the black woman legitimacy by pairing her with a white man - and they rightly want her to have legitimacy in her own right.
The important exceptions like Halle Berry (opposite Pierce Brosnan in the Bond flicks) are paired with white men because they already have legitimacy as established, respected actresses. Thus, it won't look like legitimacy is being bestowed on them since they already have it.
What do you reckon?
I've seen so many interracial couples today that I think my anectodal evidence was hardly even that. The patterns are starting to deterioate - I think I've wittnessed just about every combination to similar degrees.
An explanation for the change - as the year progresses and people realise that people from other ethnic groups are people too, romance blossoms.
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