Campaign 08's Effect on Interracial Dating

UPDATE:

The reaction to the article below is absolutely fascinating. I'd forgotten the strong reactions (largely fear?) that so many have to interracial coupling.

Thanks, everyone, for chiming in! Your comments are great food for thought.

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Dawn and Michael.

In 1994 I moved to Plano, TX to write for the celebrated children's TV series Wishbone. Dawn and Michael were the first couple I met. Dawn was fair-skinned and red-haired, a voluptuous cowgirl who looked a little bit like Sarah Palin. Her husband Michael was a black cop, with the chiseled good looks of a young John Amos. A very good looking couple.

I think about them now during this emotional election season, charged as it is with the high-voltage crosscurrents of race and gender. Perhaps no one can understand the full impact of these issues better than members of interracial couples.

And so when I think about Dawn and Michael, I wonder: has the tense presidential campaign improved or dampened their sex life?

Whatever the results on November 4th, the lives of current and would-be interracial couples will be affected in some way, at least in the short term. But how?

If Obama wins, will we see an explosion of interracial dating and marriage? Will we see black parents and white parents encourage their children to date and marry each other in the hope of producing biracial grandkids -- a tribute to our new president. Or will some fearful white parents discourage their kids from dating non-whites? If so, will this only egg on the white kids to sample the forbidden?

If McCain wins, will some black parents, disappointed by what they see as racism, frown upon their kids dating whites?

One interesting theory gaining traction:

If McCain wins, we're likely to see a number of pale-skinned liberal white chicks seek out the strongest toughest black men they can find. These young women will wear their hair swept up like Sarah Palin (the "updo") and wear Palin-style glasses (Kazuo Kawasaki: $425) and creamy lipstick. The message is clear: these women are performing ritual penance for what they believe is a wrong perpetrated against African-Americans. They will, in fact, ask to be called "Sarah".

Whether or not this kind of political-sexual role-playing is a springboard to a healthy relationship is not clear. (Performance art and behavioral biology are merely hobbies of mine.)

How do you think interracial romance is being affected by the election? How will a McCain victory vs. an Obama victory affect interracial love?

Finally, are you a member of an interracial couple? (If not, would you like to be?) Tell us about your experience!