It found that while we'd like to claim we have advanced as a society beyond judging people by the color of their skin, our habits show otherwise.

Regardless of gender, according to the book, whites are most preferred, while blacks are least preferred. Toss gender into the quotient, and the facts get even more uncomfortable: Asian men, black women, and black and Latino men are considered the least desirable in the dating market, but Asian and Latina women are seen as the most desirable—perhaps because of fetishization, Rudder suggested.

My black boyfriend and I sat there giggling with embarrassment, not sure what to say or do. It was racial exoticism doubled: a mixed race woman a black guy = open house for all kinds of personal comments.

Now it’s very hard to comprehend the prejudice we encountered, but you have to remember that there were hardly any black people in Britain in the Forties.

I met Jake when he came over during the war from Trinidad, as part of the American forces stationed at the Burtonwood base near my home in Lancashire. I was having typing and shorthand lessons and he’d been sent there for training by the Air Force.

Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

by Ok Cupid co-founder Christian Rudder, released last year, which used data collected from Ok Cupid users.