Black students still favor lighter skin, study finds
Kai Beasley, Black College Wire
Issue date: 9/12/07 Section: News
One reason for the difference in answers between African American men and African American women, according to the authors, is that women tended to take more characteristics into account, such as lips, hair, eyes, height and style of dress, when determining a man's attractiveness.
The interviews pointed to slavery and a social stigma attached to darker skin.
"I think that people are valued for their light skin," said one student. "You can take this theory way back to the house slave mentality. I think a lot of people, because that was valued, were taught to value light skin. I think it is still an ongoing type of thing, and society really has not lost that altogether."
Both men and women cited media as a driving force in the preference for lighter skin.
"When you talk to a guy, he thinks that he wants a perfect girl he sees on the videos. Usually, the women portrayed in the videos are light-skinned and have long hair," said one respondent.
Still, another participant argued that African Americans don't divide themselves based on light and dark complexions. Rather, the greater issue is color prejudice in the United States as a whole.
"Black people just see all black people as black no matter if they are light or dark. If you have any black in you, the black community considers you black."
Analysis for the Esmail-Sullivan study took place in 2000. Though it is the most recent on the subject, its results differ dramatically from an earlier study of African American college students conducted in 1997.
Louie E. Ross, then associate professor of sociology at Fayetteville State University in Fayetteville, N.C., interviewed 149 African American men and 236 African American women for his study, "Mate Selection Preferences among African American College Students." His research was conducted on the campuses of two historically black institutions in the Southeast; one public and one private.
The Ross study indicated that only 16.4 percent of women would prefer to date a person of a lighter complexion and 16.8 percent of women would want to marry a person with light skin. The study showed that 33.3 percent of men preferred to date a person of a lighter complexion and 38.3 would prefer lighter skin in a marriage partner.
The interviews pointed to slavery and a social stigma attached to darker skin.
"I think that people are valued for their light skin," said one student. "You can take this theory way back to the house slave mentality. I think a lot of people, because that was valued, were taught to value light skin. I think it is still an ongoing type of thing, and society really has not lost that altogether."
Both men and women cited media as a driving force in the preference for lighter skin.
"When you talk to a guy, he thinks that he wants a perfect girl he sees on the videos. Usually, the women portrayed in the videos are light-skinned and have long hair," said one respondent.
Still, another participant argued that African Americans don't divide themselves based on light and dark complexions. Rather, the greater issue is color prejudice in the United States as a whole.
"Black people just see all black people as black no matter if they are light or dark. If you have any black in you, the black community considers you black."
Analysis for the Esmail-Sullivan study took place in 2000. Though it is the most recent on the subject, its results differ dramatically from an earlier study of African American college students conducted in 1997.
Louie E. Ross, then associate professor of sociology at Fayetteville State University in Fayetteville, N.C., interviewed 149 African American men and 236 African American women for his study, "Mate Selection Preferences among African American College Students." His research was conducted on the campuses of two historically black institutions in the Southeast; one public and one private.
The Ross study indicated that only 16.4 percent of women would prefer to date a person of a lighter complexion and 16.8 percent of women would want to marry a person with light skin. The study showed that 33.3 percent of men preferred to date a person of a lighter complexion and 38.3 would prefer lighter skin in a marriage partner.
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