Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner Now

An Exchange Approach To Race and the Gay Mating Marketplace

Richard N. Pitt, Ph.D.

Vanderbilt University - Sociology

Abstract

Research on exchange and mate selection has shown that differential exchange commodities operate for men and women and for whites and racial minorities in the heterosexual coupling market. Are the socially-constructed exchange “calculations” which we assume operate in intimate relationships different when the relationship is shaped by the similar needs of same-sex partners? How are exchange calculations for people seeking interracial relationships shaped differently by sexual orientation? Using 5,000 personal advertisements, I analyze the effects of sexual orientation, gender roles, and racial identity on mate selection and the exchange processes which direct it.

Exchange Theory

Assumptive Scopes

• • • •

Exchange relationships develop within structures of interdependence between actors.

Actors behave in ways that increase outcomes they positively value and decrease outcomes they negatively value.

Actors engage in recurring, mutually contingent exchange with specific partners over time.

All outcomes of value obey a principle of satiation or diminishing marginal utility

Exchange Theory

Assumptive Scopes

• • • •

Exchange relationships develop within structures of interdependence between actors.

Actors behave in ways that increase outcomes they positively value and decrease outcomes they negatively value.

Actors engage in recurring, mutually contingent exchange with specific partners over time.

All outcomes of value obey a principle of satiation or diminishing marginal utility

Actors behave in ways that increase outcomes they positively value and decrease outcomes they negatively value

Exchange Theory “Humans seek rewards and avoid risks/punishments”

• • • •

Exchange Resources (Rewards)

Blau (1964): Personal attraction, social acceptance, social approval, instrumental services, respect/prestige, and compliance/power.

Foa & Foa (1974, 1980): Love, status, services, goods, information, and money.

Merton and Davis (1941): Race and caste Gonzales & Meyers (1993): Attractiveness, financial security, expressiveness, instrumentality, sincerity, and sex.

Actors behave in ways that increase outcomes they positively value and decrease outcomes they negatively value

Actors behave in ways that increase outcomes they positively value and decrease outcomes they negatively value

Exchange Theory “Humans seek rewards and avoid risks/punishments”

Exchange resources at

risk

in both homosexual & interracial relationships

Social Acceptance Social Approval Respect/Prestige Status Security

Actors behave in ways that increase outcomes they positively value and decrease outcomes they negatively value

Questions

• • •

Differences In What Exchange Variables Are Sought

–

Do homosexual men seek/offer different attributes than their heterosexual counterparts?

Differences In Levels At Which They Seek Interracial Relationships

–

Are homosexual men more or less likely to seek interracial relationships than heterosexual ones.

Differences In What Kinds Of Interracial Relationships They Seek

–

Are there differences (between Whites, Blacks, and Asians) in what kinds of interracial relationships they might seek?

–

Are these differences enhanced by sexual orientation?

Methodology

Collection of nearly 7000 personal advertisements from the personal ads sections of ten cities’ free newsweeklies (i.e., City Papers): San Francisco, CA Phoenix, AZ Denver, CO Dallas, TX Houston, TX Kansas City, KS St. Louis, MO Miami, FL Baltimore, MD New York City, NY Chosen for their regional diversity and ethnic makeup .

San Francisco, CA Phoenix, AZ Denver, CO Dallas, TX Houston, TX Kansas City, KS St. Louis, MO Miami, FL Baltimore, MD New York City, NY

Methodology cont’d

Trained coders recorded both objective information (e.g., race, age) and specific content categories (dichotomous, frequency, specific words) to be included in the analysis.

• • • • • • • • • • • • Newspaper Gender Sexual Orientation Race Age Race Desired Age Desired Type of Relationship Desired Gender Role For Self Gender Role For Other Mentions of HIV, Drugs, Children, and Religion Resources Offered/Sought – Physical Attractiveness – Financial Security – Expressive Traits – Instrumental Traits – Sincerity – Interest in Public and/or Private Relationship

70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%

Desired Personal Characteristics

This is the usual trend discussed in the literature

Physical Attractiveness Hetero Male Homo Male Success Hetero Female Sincerity Homo Female

70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%

Desired Personal Characteristics

Homosexual men are slightly less likely than heterosexual men to demand attractiveness. There’s no difference in success demands.

Physical Attractiveness Hetero Male Homo Male Success Hetero Female Sincerity Homo Female

70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%

Offered Personal Characteristics

This is the usual trend discussed in the literature

Physical Attractiveness Hetero Male Homo Male Success Hetero Female Sincerity Homo Female

40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 70%

Offered Personal Characteristics

There are larger differences in offered characteristics.

Homosexual men are much more likely than heterosexual men to offer attractiveness and much less likely to offer success.

60% 50% Physical Attractiveness Hetero Male Homo Male Success Hetero Female Sincerity Homo Female

70% 60% 50%

Type Of Relationship Sought

Gay men more likely to seek longterm and private relationships Characteristics Offered Characteristics Sought

40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Physical Attractiveness Success Physical Attractiveness Hetero Male Success Homo Male Desire LTR Desire Privacy

Race Of Desired Partner Whites, Anglo-American

100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10%

R Will Date This Race +

0% Angl Afam Latn Asam

R Exclusively Seeks This Race

Angl Anglo Hetero Afam Latn Anglo Homo Asam

+

Neutral Exogamy Only Self

Race Of Desired Partner Blacks, African-American

100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10%

R Will Date This Race

0% Angl Afam Latn Asam

R Exclusively Seeks This Race Black gays less likely to date Non-Blacks

Angl Afam Hetero Afam Latn Afam Homo Asam Neutral Exogamy Only Self

Race Of Desired Partner Asian and Pacific Islanders

100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10%

R Will Date This Race R Exclusively Seeks This Race Asian gays are more likely to date outside of their race than both str8s AND any other ethnic group . . . and their primary interest is Whites.

0% Angl Afam Latn Asam Angl Asam Hetero Afam Latn Asam Homo Asam Neutral Exogamy Only Self

Race Of Desired Partner Whites, Anglo-American

100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10%

R Will Date This Race Lowest Level Of Interest

0% Angl Afam Latn Asam

R Exclusively Seeks This Race

Angl Anglo Hetero Afam Latn Anglo Homo Asam Neutral Exogamy Only Self

Findings

• • •

Differences In What Exchange Variables Are Sought

– Homosexual men offer physical attributes more and success attributes less

Differences In Levels At Which They Seek Interracial Relationships

– Generally, homosexual men are more likely to seek interracial relationships than heterosexual ones.

Differences In What Kinds Of Interracial Relationships They Seek

– White homosexuals are more likely to date Blacks or Latinos, but White heterosexuals are more likely to date Asians.

– Blacks, generally, are probably the most diverse in their dating interests (i.e., likely to date across the racial field), BUT Black homosexuals seek Whites/Asians less than their heterosexual counterparts – Asians, generally, are most likely to date outside of their race and not date their own race exclusively. Most of that dating interest is aimed at White men. This is even more likely the case for homosexuals than for heterosexuals.

Future Directions

• • • •

With addition of Phoenix and New York, introduce Latinos and compare across the three ethnic Latino subgroups.

Explore differences in relational assets requests/offers by race and sexual orientation

–

Preliminary results show that Whites who seek minority partners are more likely to demand relational assets then Whites who don’t. This is the case for Non-Whites as well.

Explore the regional differences to determine impact of propinquity on interracial dating interests.

Explore the impact of gender roles (i.e., butch v fem) on homosexual interracial relationship seeking

–

Preliminary results suggest that homosexual men seeking “butch” partners seek different partners than those seeking “fem” partners.

Whites And Exogamy

MD FL TX AZ CO CA MO 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% onlyothr exogamy dateamin dateasam datelatn dateafam dateangl

Blacks And Exogamy

OH MD FL TX AZ CO CA MO 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% onlyothr exogamy dateamin dateasam datelatn dateafam dateangl

Asians And Exogamy

MD FL CO CA TX AZ MO 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% onlyothr exogamy dateamin dateasam datelatn dateafam dateangl

0.8

0.7

0.2

0.1

0 0.6

0.5

0.4

0.3

White Straight Men

Anglo Afam Latn Asam Physical Othr Success Othr

0.8

0.2

0.1

0 0.7

0.6

0.5

0.4

0.3

Anglo Only

Heterosexual White Men's Interests In Interacial Partners by Region

Exogamy MO CA AZ Afam Only Latn Only TX FL Asam Only Race Ntrl MD