Racial preferences in dating

John Tierney has some data on racial preferences in dating. One commenter said, "It is unthinkable that anyone would want to be with someone of the same race -- don’t they know about the power of genetic diversity?"

Unthinkable? It seems quite common to me. But Tierney actually has data saying that women have racial preferences and men don't. He says:

David predicted that black men are more likely to date white women than white men are to date black women — which is right, although not for the reason many people think. It’s not that white men are more reluctant to date non-whites; it’s that black women are less willing to date someone of another race.

News to me.

There are some wacky comments from those trying to be politically correct. One says, "How does this data work towards improving race relations? Does it not work to increase divide and suspicion?". Another says:

The biggest fallacy in this "research" on racial profiles and dating is that the experimental design is faulty. As a biologist, I will tell you that race is NOT A VALID criterion in taxonomy. For example. there is more genetic disimilarity between a two "white" guys sitting in a classroom side by side than the 'white' guy from New York and a "chinese" guy from Beijing. You might want to read the article in New York Times (April 5, 2007)which states that the difference between a Chihuahua and a Great Dane is one gene! So, how did the researchers decide who is Black, Hispanic and Asian? Why is Barack Obama considered "black"? Doesn't his mother (who is "white")get any credit for giving him 23 chromosomes when he was conceived?? Prof. S. K. Ballal?

So if I were getting a dog, Prof. Ballal would tell me that it is not meaningful to distinguish between a Chihuahua and a Great Dane.