Canonet: Like I\'ve said numerous times on this board before; I LIKE MEN!!! Black men, white men, Asian men, whatever. I\'ve never had any educational requirements for a man I date, though I do have intellectual standards (As I\'m sure you\'re well aware, intellect and education do not always go together.) To that end I\'ve dated guys from every socioeconomic group of numerous races. I\'m always fascinated by people who say they met a black woman who had a bad relationship with ONE black men and that is why they date IR, the person recounting the episode is always offended by this gross generalization, and rightly so. Of course, they don\'t have a problem with stereotyping black women in IRs as bitter *****es who hate black men. Hypocrisy always makes me ill.When I say a black man shortage, that\'s exactly what I mean. I frequently have friends and relatives question me about my mating/dating choices. I generally respond, Ok if you want me to be with a black man so bad, why don\'t you introduce me to one? They usually get this dumbfounded expression on their faces as they cannot for the life of them come up with ONE single (no kids) black man between the ages of 30 and 40 w/o a criminal record, with a job, who doesn\'t live at home, who\'s heterosexual and not a player. (Please note, I didn\'t mention race, income or even height, those are my bare MINIMUM requirements.) Generally, my social circle is fairly wide and runs from Birmingham, through my hometown to Atlanta, a distance of about 300 miles. Not once, has anyone that I\'ve asked that question been able to produce even ONE guy. Obviously, there are more white men who meet the criteria because there are MORE of them. It comes down to simple mathematics, let\'s say that 10% of ALL men are under par. There are approximately 15 million black men in this country and about 85 million white guys, one can very quickly determine that you\'re more likely to meet a compatible white guy than a compatible black guy, you\'ve simply got a larger selection. Obviously, I\'m not speaking of ALL the black men in the universe, I can only tell you what my experiences have been. BTW Canonet, I\'ve never been wronged or dogged by a man. I was stalked by one once, but I\'m pretty sure I got the best part of that encounter. And where have you seen all the black man bashing? I\'ve read posts by ONE black woman on this newsgroup that I would categorize as man-bashing in favor of white guys. The rest of us simply have shared our experiences.Is this the only reason I date men of other races? Nope, not really. I happen to find MEN attractive and can\'t really think of one racial group as more attractive than others, they each have their own groove and I\'m receptive to that.What I find interesting Canonet, is that you\'ve had two black women, one who\'s been married for over twenty years tell you that their dating/mating choices had nothing to do with black men, yet you still pursue that angle. May I ask you why? Why is it that you would make an assumption in the first place that black women are somehow ATTACHED to black men? Our sexuality is our own, to be shared as WE see fit. It has nothing to do with black men.Sheila: I do get your point, however, I don\'t see racial preferences as being any different than any other preferences. (People have all kinds of preferences; height, weight, skin color, hair length, etc...) Allow me to expound a little bit. Let\'s say that I, as a black woman am a fanatical outdoorswoman. Like to jet-ski, snowboard, camping, fishing and anything else I can do outside. None of the black guys I meet are into that, but I meet plenty of white guys who are. Does that make my \"racial\" or in actuality \"activity\" preferences wrong? (Actually, these facts are pretty much true to my situation.) Or suppose I\'m a white woman who considers myself part of the hip-hop nation, none of the white guys I meet are into that, what am I supposed to do? Deciding that all racial preferences are somehow sinister is a rather sweeping statement to make. I know that when I placed my personal ad I emphasized the outdoorsy farming life that is so crucial to me. As far as I know, no black men responded. Does that mean I discriminated against blacks? Nope, none of them responded. Big woo!
