Most people I come across hold the view that any preferences of attraction we have based on race are entirely culturally created. But is this because it is impossible to innately find some races hotter than others or does this instead stem from our sensibilities and not wanting to offend others?
Facial bilateral symmetry seems to be something scientists have uncovered to be an biologically fit trait that, on average, most of us seek, possibly because it's correlated with health. But other features of health could be plausible. Many blondes, for instance, get darker hair as they age. It could be that those who either naturally keep their platinum blonde hair into adulthood, or those who artificially change it to look that way, are perceived to be more attractive because they're perceived to look younger, and youth is highly associated with beauty by most of us (only a fringe group of people exhibit gerontophilia). So maybe the pervasive preference for blondes isn't necessarily or entirely due to privileging "Western" beauty out of racial bias but perhaps comes innately.
Or take blue eyes. Blue eyes aren't blue because of blue pigment. We perceive them to be blue due to Rayleigh scattering. Consequently blue eyes tend to be pale and often show a sharp contrast to the iris. Brown eyes, however, are brown because of a high concentration of melanin. Dark brown eyes are dominant in humans. Now, we happen to know that dilation of the pupil not only occurs because of the amount of light it's exposed to but also due to attraction and arousal. So if it's easier to spot someone's pupil dilating in your average blue-eyed person over those with brown eyes, and thereby facilitating your awareness of someone's arousal, then you'll naturally get a preference for the former over the latter.
Finally, take height preferences. Let's suppose that we have data showing that women overwhelmingly tend to prefer men who are taller than themselves when choosing mates. Given that there are average differences in height amongst the races, we could potentially see different response rates to and from each racial group.
None of these examples are definitive facts, but they are certainly plausible, or so I argue. I have not found many people willing to even entertain these as possibilities and I suspect many of you here won't either. This topic is taboo and often gets dismissed as racist without ever grappling with any of the points that get made. Let this thread serve to open discussion on this topic and to allow counter arguments to be made by those of you who think I erred in my reasoning.
Facial bilateral symmetry seems to be something scientists have uncovered to be an biologically fit trait that, on average, most of us seek, possibly because it's correlated with health. But other features of health could be plausible. Many blondes, for instance, get darker hair as they age. It could be that those who either naturally keep their platinum blonde hair into adulthood, or those who artificially change it to look that way, are perceived to be more attractive because they're perceived to look younger, and youth is highly associated with beauty by most of us (only a fringe group of people exhibit gerontophilia). So maybe the pervasive preference for blondes isn't necessarily or entirely due to privileging "Western" beauty out of racial bias but perhaps comes innately.
Or take blue eyes. Blue eyes aren't blue because of blue pigment. We perceive them to be blue due to Rayleigh scattering. Consequently blue eyes tend to be pale and often show a sharp contrast to the iris. Brown eyes, however, are brown because of a high concentration of melanin. Dark brown eyes are dominant in humans. Now, we happen to know that dilation of the pupil not only occurs because of the amount of light it's exposed to but also due to attraction and arousal. So if it's easier to spot someone's pupil dilating in your average blue-eyed person over those with brown eyes, and thereby facilitating your awareness of someone's arousal, then you'll naturally get a preference for the former over the latter.
Finally, take height preferences. Let's suppose that we have data showing that women overwhelmingly tend to prefer men who are taller than themselves when choosing mates. Given that there are average differences in height amongst the races, we could potentially see different response rates to and from each racial group.
None of these examples are definitive facts, but they are certainly plausible, or so I argue. I have not found many people willing to even entertain these as possibilities and I suspect many of you here won't either. This topic is taboo and often gets dismissed as racist without ever grappling with any of the points that get made. Let this thread serve to open discussion on this topic and to allow counter arguments to be made by those of you who think I erred in my reasoning.