y forblacks and Asians. This isn't surprising because these social-compatibilityfactors influence the total number of black-white or white-Asian marriagesmore than the hus- band-wife proportions within intermarriages.By emphasizing how society encourages us to marry people like ourselves,sociologists miss half the picture: by definition, heterosexual attractionthrives on differences. Although Henry Higgins and Colonel Pickering are socompatible that they break into song about it ("Why Can't a Woman Be Morelike a Man?"), Higgins falls in love with Eliza Doolittle. Oppositesattract. And certain race/sex pairings seem to be more opposite than others.The force driving these skewed husband-wife proportions appears to bedifferences in perceived sexual attractiveness. On average, black men tendto appear slightly more and Asian men slightly less masculine than whitemen, while Asian women are typically seen as slightly more and black womenas slightly less feminine than white women.Obviously, these are gross generalizations about the races. Nobody believesMichael Jackson could beat up kung-fu star Jackie Chan or that comedienneMargaret Cho is lovelier than Sports Illustrated swimsuit covergirl TyraBanks. But life is a game of probabilities, not of abstract Platonicessences.So, what makes blacks more masculine-seeming and Asians morefeminine-seeming? Media stereotypes are sometimes invoked. TV constantlyshows black men slam-dunking, while it seems the only way an Asian man canget some coverage is to discover a cure for AIDS. Yet try channel-surfingfor minority women. You'll see black women dancing, singing, joking, andromancing. If, however, you even see an Asian woman, she'll probably benewscasting -- not the most alluring of roles.Conventional wisdom sometimes cites social conditioning as well. But whilethis is not implausible for American-born blacks, who come from a somewhathomogeneous culture, it's insensitive to the diversity of cultures in ...
