A new study by researchers at the University of Massachusetts and the University of Texas finds White straight males and White lesbians are more open to interracial dating than White gay men and White straight women. The researchers analyzed data from more than 9 million registered users of one of the largest online dating services.
The study found that same-race preferences are strong among all groups. But it found that White straight men and White lesbians were far more likely to consider dating people of another race than was the case with White gay men and White straight women.
“Stated another way,” the authors write, “minority men are avoided by White daters, regardless of their sexual identity, while minority women fare considerably better.”
The article “Is Love (Color) Blind? The Economy of Race Among Gay and Straight Daters,” was author by Jennifer Lunquist, a soiologist at the University of Massachusetts and Ken-Hou Lin, a sociologist at the University of Texas. The research was published on the website of the journal Social Forces. It may be accessed here.
A future paper will examine the dating preferences of Black and minority users of online dating services.
