The change is beginning
The world has come a long way when it comes to interracial/intercontinental marriage. And the evidence is no more apparent than in the United States. A country where before the year 1967 thirty-one states outlawed the marriage of two people of different races but has now transitioned to a point where it is accepted and legal throughout all 50 states. When the Supreme court in the case Loving v. Virginia finally decided to legalize interracial marriage, it gave Americans and people of non-American heritage the comfort to show off their relationship to where now todays metrics show a growing level of acceptance and commonness within our communities when it comes to mixed marriage. The latest data as of 2015 has shown that 17% of all new marriages are taking place between two individuals of different races or ethnicities, and if that was not enough public approval has increased throughout the years with the 1950s only seeing a 5% approval rating but throughout the 2000s the number has hovered around 80%. It is no longer a dream to find love with a mate of any cultural background. What these stats prove is it becoming increasingly a reality in our everyday life.
The rise of globalization
With the help of globalization and active/open travel between countries, not only do people of different countries have the potential to find better careers, and opportunities but they also have chance to find love outside of their homeland. A woman can now travel from Asia to America and find the man of her dreams, a concept that once upon a time could never have been conceived by two people on opposite sides of the world. Keep in mind that once upon a time immigration and traveling between countries was once not a common thing as it is now, and many restrictions were imposed on immigrants but now today the most common type of marriage within the category of interracial/intercontinental is between an Asian American female and a white male. So, America has come a long way in allowing romance to take its form in whatever way it is destined to be.
Online dating is the key
And let us not forget about the evolution of online dating which has come from a simple chat room that allowed you to talk to your neighbor but has now morphed into this avenue being used to meet people all over the world, not only for friendships, but also for love, which has opened the door for not only more interracial relationships, but intercontinental relationships, because now with one swipe of the hand you can meet a person from Russia, Germany, Brazil, and many more. Yes, the avenue to build these loves may be difficult with two people living in different countries, but none the less they exist. Once upon a time you would only be exposed to the people within your neighborhood or city but with the rise of apps like tinder or websites like Exoticmeetup.com helping to bridge the gap now you can find and connect with people from across the world making the idea of intercontinental/intercultural relationship more of a possibility. We not only owe globalization to the rise in new way we look at love but the world of social media and online dating that has now opened a whole new world of dating.
Here comes Hollywood
Television and Hollywood have also caught up on the trends and the social acceptance of mixed marriage. None more noticeable than the relationship between the characters Rick Grimes, a white male and Michonne, a black woman, on the popular show The Walking Dead. It is shows like this, along with Riverdale. 13 Reasons Why, and the movie A Wrinkle in Time that have given media exposure to the realities of what is taking place in this country, the growing evolution of love. It was typical to watch a tv show or a movie and see a couple of the same color, background, potentially even from the same city and school, and if there was to be a mention or exposure of a couple of different races or ethnicity it would often be the butt of the jokes or viewed negatively by the supporting characters, but as America made its way out of the past and the rise of GEN X who expressed a desire for a more inclusive society we now see couples like in The Walking Dead becoming more and more common.
The change is here
No longer is marriage outside of your race such a taboo, but instead becoming an increasingly common and accepted form of romance. Love was never meant to be secular, but society needed to accept that love comes in many different shapes and colors and should not be bound to one’s race or cultural background. Although it is still common for a mixed couple to get awkward stares and there still is a small part of the population at large that do not agree with the mixing of races, with laws changing, television suppling more representation and the overall growing acceptance of mixed races it is a bright future for the world of love and whatever background of the two people it may involve. It is no longer a dream to imagine meeting a beautiful mate outside of your race and feeling comfortable to fully express that love. So, we all should feel comfortable finding and seeking love outside of our race, and no longer feel tied down by old standards that do not represent the world we live in today.
