Showing posts with label Psychology Today. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Psychology Today. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Psychology (of Racism) Today

Good morning, gentle readers. This morning’s post is inspired by a news story that was brought to my attention by not one, but two Caucasian friends. I blog to you know with a heavy and angry heart, but I must share this disgusting truth.

If you haven’t already heard, Psychology Today thinks Hitler had a point: non-whites are biologically inferior—at least, physically—which, as Derek Zoolander has shown us, is all that really matters. They recently posted—and then took down—an article that asked the hard-hitting question, “Why Are Black Women Less Physically Attractive Than Other Women?”

Inquiring racist minds need to know!!!!!!!!

Written by evolutionary psycholoracist Satoshi Kanazawa, the article provides “scientific” data that proves how hideous Black women are. His method is explained in the opening:

Add Health measures the physical attractiveness of its respondents both objectively and subjectively. At the end of each interview, the interviewer rates the physical attractiveness of the respondent objectively on the following five-point scale: 1 = very unattractive, 2 = unattractive, 3 = about average, 4 = attractive, 5 = very attractive. The physical attractiveness of each Add Health respondent is measured three times by three different interviewers over seven years.

From these three scores, I can compute the latent "physical attractiveness factor" by a statistical procedure called factor analysis. Factor analysis has the added advantage of eliminating all random measurement errors that are inherent in any scientific measurement. The latent physical attractiveness factor has a mean of 0 and a standard deviation of 1.


Who wants to bet these interviewers were White and/or Asian? And they conducted these interviews over seven years? We all know black don’t crack, certainly compared to those lacking in melanin, so I know this is a piece of sky-blue bullshit. Check the stats:

Notice that Asian women do a bit better in this graph. Also note that our racist scientist is Japanese.


He then brings it home with a take on the stupidity of the black subjects, noting that:

[E]ven though black women are objectively less physically attractive than other women, black women (and men) subjectively consider themselves to be far more physically attractive than others. In Wave III, Add Health asks its respondents to rate their own physical attractiveness subjectively on the following four-point scale: 1 = not at all, 2 = slightly, 3 = moderately, 4 = very. As you can see in the following graphs, both black women and black men rate themselves to be far more physically attractive than individuals of other races.



The good doctor then goes on the explain why we’re so hideous.

There are many biological and genetic differences between the races. However, such race differences usually exist in equal measure for both men and women. For example, because they have existed much longer in human evolutionary history, Africans have more mutations in their genomes than other races. And the mutation loads significantly decrease physical attractiveness (because physical attractiveness is a measure of genetic and developmental health). But since both black women and black men have higher mutation loads, it cannot explain why only black women are less physically attractive, while black men are, if anything, more attractive.

The only thing I can think of that might potentially explain the lower average level of physical attractiveness among black women is testosterone. Africans on average have higher levels of testosterone than other races, and testosterone, being an androgen (male hormone), affects the physical attractiveness of men and women differently. Men with higher levels of testosterone have more masculine features and are therefore more physically attractive. In contrast, women with higher levels of testosterone also have more masculine features and are therefore less physically attractive. The race differences in the level of testosterone can therefore potentially explain why black women are less physically attractive than women of other races, while (net of intelligence) black men are more physically attractive than men of other races.



Wow. This is some intensely racist shit and the fact that they could even call it science just demonstrates the lengths people will go to in order to keep racism alive. I don’t even know if there’s a way to make this funny because it’s just disgusting. As with any blatant form of institutionalized racism, my anger level rises the more I think about the number of hoops a research scientist has to go through to get a piece published. I don’t know all the details, but here are some basic things that have to happen for this article to get out into the world:
"Dr." Satoshi Kanazawa
Look at this dude. Smug racist son of a.....can we talk about his attractiveness?

First, he has to get grant money to conduct said research—which requires he outline what he seeks to study. No one seemed to be put off. He then has to explain to his team of “interviewers” what he’s trying to do. I don’t care how bad your student loans are, there’s no amount of work-study money that should convince you to “interview” and judge the attractiveness of people across various races.

After he saw the research through to completion, he then had to write and present this paper to several journals in hopes of publication. Not only was he published once in The Scientific Fundamentalist, but Psychology Today read this piece and thought, “Wow, this is a real breakthrough. Let’s put this up on our site!”

I’d like to also call out this “mutation theory”. He makes Africa sound like the island of Dr. Moreau, full of Darwin’s cast-offs and ebony circus folks. The testosterone bit is really hilarious, because it makes no sense. I may have broad shoulders, but I don’t have high testosterone levels, and anyone who says otherwise can suck my dick.

Too crass?

Leave comments, people. We have to help each other get through this.