preferences...

this cute guy checked me out on yahoo today. i looked at his profile, noted that he's traveled to "Singapore, Beijing, Sri Lanka, Prague, Hungary, and Kiev, and look for any opportunity to visit new cultures and places," and see that he says "I've traveled a fair amount and enjoy exploring new perspectives. "

then i look at the list of ethnicity types he'd consider for his "Ideal Woman:"
Asian, Caucasian (white), East Indian, Hispanic/Latino, Middle Eastern, Native American, Pacific Islander, Inter-racial, Other.

then I look at the list of possible ethnicities one could check:
African American (black), Asian, Caucasian (white), East Indian, Hispanic/Latino, Middle Eastern, Native American, Pacific Islander, Inter-racial, Other, Any.

so basically this well-educated ("post graduate"), well-traveled caucasian guy is open to every race or racial combination except African American (black), which also prevents him from choosing "any".

ok. everyone is entitled to their own preferences in terms of physical attraction, people they think they have things in common with, etc. but i can't tell you how many examples of this phenomenon i've seen since i've lived in san diego. i rarely, if ever, saw such lists when i lived in the bay area. i guess i've thought of CA as being more multicultural and people being more openminded here. maybe it doesn't apply to san diego, maybe it's a yahoo thing, i don't know. but it definitely irks me as it's basically a way of saying "anything but black." as an interracial person, i suppose one could argue i'm "acceptable" to this guy, but i wouldn't really want to even meet someone who set their priorities that way. for me, if someone is white and they specify just white, or black and they specify just black in terms of what they're looking for, i can get my head around that. like i said, people have preferences. but i feel there is something rather prejudicial about someone who says "anything but."

this issue has been bugging me for a while, but since it just happened again and i don't think i've ever written about it, well, here you go. end of rant.

~md