Interracial Relationships
(Article excerpt)

Reasons for Interracial Marriages

Several theories have been proposed as to why people may marry interracially. One theory is the sex. We all know the myth about black men. Another not so well-known myth is that black women are sex freaks in bed. Another theory is that people do it to prove to society that they will defy prejudice. Yet another theory is that a person hasn’t been thoroughly integrated into their social group, so that person seeks acceptance elsewhere. The fourth theory is that people do it to rebel against their parents. However, most interracial marriages are just like any other marriage, in that the couple marries for the same reason same-race couples do.

In fact, interracial marriages tend to last longer than same race ones because people going into interracial marriages are prepared for a rocky road and to stick with it, while same- race couples may have not experienced that same adversity and, at the first sign of struggle, back out of the marriage.

Family

White women that marry interracially, especially with a black man, have a higher risk of being alienated by their family. This is due to the bad reputation the black men have, which society created for them. And most black men have a hard time getting their families to accept their white spouse.

White men who marry interracially tend to have a very high acceptance rate among family members, while black women who marry interracially don’t have quite as high an acceptance rate.

Society

In general, society tends to view black women-white men marriages as less repulsive than white women-black men marriages and, as a result, both relationships are met with different attitudes.

White men-black women couples also tend to live in a white or a racially mixed area, while black men-white women couples tend to live in black neighborhoods.

No matter where you go, however, there will always be negative reactions, which include staring, rude comments, neighbors that ignore you, isolation, and, occasionally, violence. Stares mostly occur in public rather than in a private neighborhood.

Most churches tend to be accepting of any type of marriage, except homosexual marriages, and tend to welcome people in interracial marriages with open arms.

Occasionally, in hospitals, people will make innocent comments, asking if that dark-skinned or light-skinned baby is adopted, not even thinking that it could be a product of an interracial marriage. Occasionally, a nurse will voice their opinion on these types of marriages.

As usual, the police get a bad rap. In general, they will harass people in interracial marriages and can be very humiliating. There is really nothing you can do about it, though.

As for housing, it can be harder to find an apartment if the landlord has a bias against interracial marriages; this is a problem that will occasionally happen. It won’t be impossible to find housing, but it may be more difficult. It really depends on the neighborhood, too.

As for employment, certain types of harassment can occur when employees find out about your spouse of a different color. It can even include job dismissal, but if a job was to dismiss you for who you married, then it probably wasn’t worth working there.

Relations with the black community tend to be easier with a black woman-white man relationship; they are received, in general, with open arms, while there is hostility, especially from black women, with respect to black men-white women unions.