Paper so far
Bringing a date home for the first time to meet your parents or your friends for the first time is already very nerve-racking. Thoughts are constantly running through your head. Are they going to approve of him or her? Are they going to like them? Will they get along? Everyone knows the feeling and it is not a fun feeling to have. Now imagine those feelings and multiply them by ten. This is what you might feel if you bring home someone who is of another race to meet your parents or friends for the first time. Forget the fact that your parents might judge him because he is wearing jeans instead of khaki’s or your mom thinks her skirt should be a few inches longer. You might have to worry about your friends judging them just because they go to a different school or hang out with a different crowd. Many people in interracial relationships goes through these challenges on a daily bases. Not only do they have to worry about their family and friends judging them, but also complete strangers. More and more people are becoming involved in interracial relationships, but the taboo that went along with them years ago still exists today.
This topic happens to play a big part in my life. Right now I am involved in an interracial relationship. I am a 20 year college student. My boyfriend and I have been together for over a year and a half now. He is also 20 years old and is in the United States Marine Corp. Being in a relationship is hard enough already and then add to the fact that not only are we in a long distance relationship, but also in an interracial relationship. My boyfriend is Indian and I am Caucasian. When we first got together I did not really think anything of it. It was not until he met my parents for the first time that it kind of dawned on me and I wondered if they were going to have a problem with him being of another race. Luckily my parents are very supportive and caring and it did not even faze them. As long I was happy they were happy too.
When I came out to school I was worried about what people would say when they found out I was in an interracial relationship. I figured that since everything went so well back home with my family and friends that my luck is going to have to run out eventually. As I started to meet people and get to know them better, they got to know me and found out that I was in an interracial relationship I noticed that once again I got lucky. No one seemed to really care about the fact that I was in an interracial relationship.
Studies have shown that “today’s younger generation is more open to interracial relationships than the older generations are,” (Firebaugh). A recent study was done at a prominent University on interracial dating. Six-hundred-twenty students were asked to fill out an anonymous questionnaire “to assess their attitudes towards interracial dating,” (Buffington). Out of those six-hundred-twenty student “almost one-fourth of them said that they have been involved in an interracial relationship and half of them said they were open to becoming involved in an interracial relationship,” (Buffington).
If more and more people are open to being in an interracial relationship, than why is there still a stigma attached to them. In this paper, I want to look at why people feel it is their job to judge people who are involved in interracial relationships. I also want to explore the challenges of what people go through in interracial relationships and how they deal with the clashes of culture and religion. I also want to explore how lifestyles, family opinions and marriage can affect the relationship.
References
Buffington, C., Hemphill, G., Knox, D., & Zusman, M.E. (2000). Interracial dating attitudes among college students. College Student Journal, 34(1), Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=5&hid=3&sid=29cfa715-5839-4c31-9521-86bcb275e03d%40sessionmgr4&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=a9h&AN=3024748
Firebaugh, S., & Firmin, M.W. (2008). Historical analysis of college campus interracial dating. College Student Journal, 42(3), Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=1&hid=3&sid=7dedcf12-0492-4137-a23b-03aa60101768%40sessionmgr4&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=a9h&AN=34262666
The purpose of this introduction is let my readers know what I am writing about. I want to give them some background information about my topic. By the end of my introduction I am hoping that my readers will walk away knowing more about interracial relationships and what they can expect to come out of my paper. My intended audience for this paper is my classmates and peers.
I accomplished my goals my informing my readers about interracial relationships. I did this by sharing some background information with them about interracial relationships. Also by sharing my personal story about my experiences about being in an interracial relationship.
Lit. Review
At this day and age you would think that interracial relationships would be accepted without a second glance; however, this is not true. It is true that interracial relationships are accepted more by people these days than they used to be. However, there are still people who disagree with them. A study done at a University gave 620 students an anonymous questionnaire. This questionnaire was designed to “assess the respondent’s openness to become involved in an interracial relationship,” (Buffington). The results from this study showed that “almost one-fourth reported having dated interracially and about half expressed that they were open to becoming involved in an interracial relationship,” (Buffington).
However, just because some college campuses are open to interracial relationship’s does not mean that they all are. Many Southern college campuses are still struggling to accept such relationships. In fact “up until about three decades ago interracial relationship were outlawed,” (Firebaugh). Since then interracial relationships have made some big strides in becoming more accepted. A study done in 1998 showed that “interracial marriages have increased from 51,000 in the 1960’s to 330,000 and the number is continuing to grow every year,” (Firebaugh). Researchers believe that the rise in acceptance for interracial relationships is due to the “openness of the younger generation compared to the older generations,” (Firebaugh).
Even though younger generations are more open to interracial relationships research has showed that their family and friends still play a big role on the decisions they make in their life. Firebaugh wrote that “children look to their parents and family for guidance and those that rely heavily on them to make decision are less likely to be involved in something that they disapprove of.” Even if the couple has their family and friends blessing does not mean that things will get easier for them. They still have to deal with the ridicule and judgments from complete strangers.
People who are involved in interracial relationships are going against the “norm,” which would be dating someone who is of the same race as you are. Since there are so many pressures and judgments put on interracial relationships, researchers have found that “the divorce rate of an interracial couple who has been married for ten years is at 41% compared to the 31% for a non-interracial couple,” (Bratter).
Interracial couples have an added pressure put on them due to the judgments from other people. According to Foeman and Nance (2002) it is important for an interracial couple to have four basic methods in their relationship in order for it to have a fighting chance. These four methods include “racial awareness, coping, identity emergence and maintenance,” (Foeman). The first method involves the couple being aware that they are attracted to someone. This normally occurs with the “couples initial attraction and can quickly bring about sensitivity to each partner’s racial “place” (status),” (Foeman).
The second method is coping. This is the stage where the couple has to learn to “pull” together and “integrate” and form a relationship together. Since interracial couples do face many judgments from the outside world it does force them to communicate and talk about issues and it can ultimately make them stronger as a couple. “Couples indicate that they learn to insulate when possible from people and situations that are potentially harmful or to negotiate potentially threatening situations as necessary. They also learn to turn to each other for new perspectives,” (Foeman).
The third method is identity emergence. Identity emergence is when “as a couple they start to develop behaviors that are self-sustaining,” (Foeman). They begin to look at the “uniqueness” of their relationship as a plus instead of looking at all the negatives. In this stage the couples realize that it does not matter what other people have to say about their relationship. If the couple is okay with their interracial relationship than that is the only opinion that should matter.
The fourth method is maintenance. In this step the couples continue to work on their relationship. Using each other as a backbone to stand up against the negative opinions of some people. Working on their relationship and building a strong foundation so they can continue to grow together.
Reference Page
Buffington, C., Hemphill, G., Knox, D., & Zusman, M.E. (2000). Interracial dating attitudes among college students. College Student Journal, 34(1), Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=5&hid=3&sid=29cfa715-5839-4c31-9521-86bcb275e03d%40sessionmgr4&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=a9h&AN=3024748
Bratter, J.L., & King, R.L. (2008). “but will it last”: marital instability among interracial and same-race couples. Family Relations, 57(2), Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=11&hid=3&sid=29cfa715-5839-4c31-9521-86bcb275e03d%40sessionmgr4&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=a9h&AN=31481625 doi: 10.1111/j.1741-3729.2008.00491.x
Firebaugh, S., & Firmin, M.W. (2008). Historical analysis of college campus interracial dating. College Student Journal, 42(3), Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=1&hid=3&sid=7dedcf12-0492-4137-a23b-03aa60101768%40sessionmgr4&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=a9h&AN=34262666
Foeman, A., & Nance, T. (2002). Building new cultures, reframing old images: success stratgies of interracial couples. Howard Journal of Communications, 13(3), Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=10&hid=3&sid=29cfa715-5839-4c31-9521-86bcb275e03d%40sessionmgr4&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=a9h&AN=7494361#db=a9h&AN=7494361 doi: 10.1080/10646170290109716
Methods:
After reading through many studies and survey’s done about my topic I decided the best way for me to conduct research on my own would be to do a survey. The survey contains about ten to fifteen questions with a mixture of short answers and multiple choice questions. The questions have to do with how the participants feel about interracial dating; whether they would ever be in an interracial relationship. If they condone interracial dating and would they be accepting if one of their relatives or friends was involved in an interracial relationship.
I handed out the survey in my English class and also gave it to some of my friends and random people on campus. It is completely anonymous and if at any time the subject does not feel comfortable or does not want to turn in the survey they do not have to. The subjects for the survey are primarily made up of IUP students.
I feel the anonymous survey is the best way to gather information for my paper. I feel this is true because by taking an anonymous survey people will be comfortable in answering the questions honestly. I feel that if I asked people the questions in person or even in an interview like setting that they will not be honest with me. I feel like they will feel uncomfortable and possibly be worried that they are being judged for their answers.
My goal for this paper is to explain how I plan on gathering my research for my paper. I will do this by describing the survey I plan on using. I will describe what some of the question may be like and approximately how many questions will be on it. My peers in my English class will be the ones read this.
I achieved my goal for this paper by explaining what my survey is going to be about. I feel I gave enough information to supply my readers with a general idea of what to expect from my survey.
