I'm white red-neck from American South. I much prefer Shilpa Shetty, Haifa Wehbe, and Gon Li to Britney, Paris, or Nicole Kidman. Who needs pale shadows when real women are available? I agree with above comment about Indian matrimonial ads being overtly color-driven.

Randall Thorpe, Atlanta, USA

birds of a feather etc., .........it's nature, what's wrong with that?

zoe, dorchester, dorset

Has April Fools' Day been moved to the 'winterval period'? What a load of tosh. Your article is moronic or a not to successful wind-up. Unfortunately I think it is the former.

I will continue to 'go out with' women I find atractive. I will not let people like you tell me what or who I should be like.

James Brown, London, UK

Racial mating preference are just the selfish genes way of saying: "I want to propogate more of ME please!"

Don't blame lonely hearts, blame evolution Sathnam.

Prozacville.blogspot.com, london, UK

hmm, am I allowed to specify that I want to hear from men, 30-40, years of age, or is that age discrimination? oh, is it even ok to ask for a man?

inga, stockholm,

Has the columnist ever opened an Indian newspaper - matchmaking section?

Maggy, Toulouse, France

I am not certain what point you're trying to make. I am Dutch and live in the United States. If I prefer dating Dutchwomen, does that make me racist? Do I have to date men, as well, to practice diversity? Black? White? Cream? A wee bit over the top, your argument, methinks.

Menno Aartsen, Fredericksburg, VA, USA

I am a latinamerican (mixed Spanish-amerindian) married to a white English guy. His family and people I know in Britain aren't racist and if someone held reservations about us, they probably kept it to themselves until they got used to me(?) Whichever way, political correctness can and ought go beyond reserved opinions. I'm mad on Denzel Washington but that doesn't discriminate Brad Pitt who I don't fancy at all. I've 2 gorgeous kids, one is cocoa like me and the other milk like him, and who cares?

My country hasn't a Pacific Coast so there was no slave trade there, I didn't get to know black people until I came here. Knowing about political correctness was the first step to apreciate not only "black, white, yellow beauty" and so on. Latin America has very racist societies (one of many of our backward qualities) and over there we have a long way to go before evolving into a majority of colour blind people. No one sings (or is as athletic) as black people, that's a racist remark!

Marina, Oxford, Oxfordshire

What????? Did I understand this claptrap right? Is someone telling me who I should or shouldn't be attracted to on political correctness lines?
Mind your own business, Sathnam!!!

Max , London,

"white people who go out with ethnic minorities are often accused of having “jungle fever”; black people who go out with whites risk being labelled “coconuts”; while many an Indian mother has bewailed that her offspring should not bring home a BMW: ie, someone black, Muslim, or white."

I think this is rubbish. I often see black/white couples and I enjoy it because it shows a cultural maturity.

The problem - and it is a problem - is the deeply entrenched racism within Asians, Muslims in particular, absolutely forbidding relationships with non Asian/Muslims. It is racism, of the same kind we used to see in the American South: institional and cultural apartheid very, very different from mild surprise, whatever, when it happens with the rest of us.

Joe, Manchester,

As an African-American male, I have to disagree with your assertion that people who share my gender and race are "on top in terms of eligibility". I have been married to a white woman for nearly eight years but several of her friends have made it clear that THEY would never consider such a marriage.

I think it would be better to say that interracial marriage or dating between blacks and whites is far less controversial than it used to be back in the 1960s and 70s - but neither is it is the norm in American society.

I have been asked by strangers (usually online), why I chose to marry a person of a different race. My reply is that we met online, fell in love with each other, and are happy together. Thankfully, both our families are highly supportive of our marriage and, while we have faced obvious disapproval from some strangers, we have not experienced any overt discrimination.

Andre, Portland, USA

Just because I don't find black men sexually attractive does not mean I am racist, unless you believe that all gay men are misogynists. Do I have to start sleeping with people I don't fancy just to be PC?

Emma, Bath,

More Islingtonian clap-trap

Will, London,

you think those are racist, try Sunday mornings Times of India matrimonial adverts.

Phil Constable, Jakarta,

Race is alive and well, has been with us from the beginning and always shall be. It starts with the family, out to the tribe, and so on, and only PC thinking, which is fascism, tries to deny it. Lets call it realism.

Alistair , cape town,

Don't worry- I'm sure the Bean jobsworth bunch are designing a formula to tell you exactly who or what you will be attracted to - fascism is being imposed on the life of the British people - a little bit more each day.

Doug, Glasgow,

Most people have a dilemma when they think think about their own attitude to racism. They want to condemn it as unsound, abhorrent and unmoral. But at the same time can't help feeling there will always a conscious barrier there. What must be understood is that it isn't one's appearance which dictates one's personality. It is the circumstances of one's upbringing. I have a very good friend who's family came from the Caribbean, he looks Indian and his name would indicate Malaysian and yet he's as much a Londoner as anyone I know. I was married for ten miserable years to Japanese woman. It wasn't because she was Japanese that we divorced. She was horrible in any language. I then married an English girl who had been raised in exactly my part of town. The difference was that of twenty years. And I didn't leave for a younger woman. When a middle man is looking for a companion all his contemporary female choices are already married or are not for a good reason. Age or race. If you get on OK

Crombie, Perth W.A. , Australia

GB Shaw (whom I believe subscribed to the obnoxious theory of eugenics) was said to have proposed to Isadora Duncan thus: "Mdm. we should could consider the idea of getting married as with your beauty and my brains our offspring would possess both attributes (or words to that effect)." To which she replied "What if it had your beauty and my brains?" As one who comes from a multi-ethnic/cultural society where intermarriages are not uncommon and whose own spouse (like other members of my family) is from another race, I can vouch from my own experience that the biological products of intermarriages -- where romantic love rather than an arranged one dictates choice of partners --combine the best possible genes of their parents. They are usually healthy, talented, very intelligent, nice looking etc.with an outlook (and one I believe would contribute to greater understanding among people in future) that transcends the prejudices/limitations of race,culture and religion. So Duncan was wrong.

SD Goh, PJ, Malaysia

Sorry but...what a pile of rubbish. I am certainly not racist but I'm also not attracted to chinese (to put an example) and the same applies to overwieght women, other men (of course not meaning disrespect to homosexuals), very tall women or hairy faced women. So what? what that only means is that I express my preferences clearly, last think I want to do is waste mine or anybody's time. It is wrong to say black but when someone mentions white, nobody jumps and starts pointing their fingers acusing you of racist. It is always the same story, and interestingly enough, this issue is always raised by people who are not white.

Danny, Cambridge, UK

Personally I only find white europeans attractive. I would also feel like im betraying my ancestors if I settled with anyone who wasnt the same race as me.
I mean, surely we all want our kids to resemble our grandparents, and our kids kids to look like us?

Plus remember the more mixed marrages there are, then the sooner the whole earth descends into becoming all one, coffee coloured race. Thats not very diverse is it?
We should recognise that races are different and celebrate this!

Paul, Nottingham, England

I just don't see the comparison with job vaccancies, or the point of your comment come to that. What about the S and the F part of SWF? Discriminating against marital status or sex is also illegal in job description, so why pick on race in your comdemnation. Or maybe you would like a date with a married 90 year old man? Until the media and the public understand the difference between preference and discrimination, this sort of political correctness gone mad will continue.

Tony Brown, Purley, London

But if you believe that people are free to make their own choices, then racism, and all other isms are fabricated taboos. If you wish to delegitimise and criminalise choice, then accept all the isms, of which there are an infinite amount (racism has been artificially elevated to top of the pile). For any parameter on which human beings differ there is the potential for discrimination (or should we call that preference), be it height, weight, or whatever. Take height – women, with rare exceptions, prefer their partners to be taller than them, and it seems that this is innate. Look in any lonely hearts column and you'll see the evidence. Either that’s a legitimate choice, or it's heightism. Attractiveness – most people prefer to have an attractive partner, and in general attractive people have much better life chances than ugly people in many spheres. This is blatant attractivism. So, Sathnam, should we outlaw free choice and if so, how would you enforce the laws against heightism, weightism, eye-colourism, dyspraxism (prejudice against clumsy people) and so on?

Stephen Munslow, Birmingham, UK

And what is the point? How can something as deeply private as partnership choice meaningfully become subject to accusations of implied racism without turning into a self-fulfilling prophecy? After all, choosing a partner is neither an employment contract, nor a public tender that has to abide by anti-discrimination legislation... what is going to be next - demands for racially and confessionally mixed wedding ceremonies to preserve social coherence and give a voice to marginalised voices? If this is the level that public debate on private matters has risen to, we might as well call it a day and officially declare the intellectual demise of contemporary Britain. More relevance please.

C Hardin, Exeter,

I am a black man and have dated women of different races, what an experience. When settling down it will have to be with a black woman, the reason less hassle having to explain cultural differences and race. Surely that don't mean I am racist.

Thabok, portsmouth, UK

We should judge persons by the content of their character, not by the colour of their skin or racial stereotypes..........

My own family includes people of White, African and Indian descent. We are all individuals, not representatives of a race or ethnic group.

Dominica Pradere, Lucea, Jamaica

Aw for goodness' sake here we go again. It used to be hang a heretic, then reds under the bed, now its root out a racist. Same mentality (in the hunter), different witch. But then if there were no racists what reason would all those think tanks have for their generous budgets...
When you lose common sense all you get is non-sense.

Andro Varshavskiy, London SE1,

Well attraction is subjective - personally I'm only interested in white women - if that means I'm racist then so be it...

Dan, Winchester, Hants

whats wrong with saying i dont want to date an asian, chinese or black person or welsh come to that - or fat, thin, tall, short ? surely people can have some personal freedoms ? if i had a sting of white girlfriends could i be charged with racist behaviour ?

Andrew Anderson, rousse, bulgaria

I am "white", my husband is of Japanese origin, but I also find very dark-skinned Indians attractive.

On the other hand, I did not consult any dating ads;)

MarlisM, Frankfurt, Germany

Why am I sick of hearing about 'race' and 'racism' in everything today? I suppose it will become illegal to marry someone of your own race next. As a manager of a local authority training centre I was told I was racist because I treated ALL equally!
No-one has been able to give me a satisfactory reason for that assumption. I truly despair.

Arthur Lincoln, Lincoln,

What exactly is the difference between finding someone of different race more or less attractive than having a preference between blondes, brunettes or redheads? It's not racism, it's just what you go for.

Gareth, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

Don't worry dear, theres someone out there for all of us. Well, so my mother keeps telling me...

Paul B, Chelmsford, England.

Don - unconstitutional for California, or for the US? Pierre

QCD, Paris, France

So I don,t find blacks sexy, so what. If you don,t like that that's tough mate, that's how it is. I suppose this stupid Labour government will make that a crime next

D Case, Newquay,

oh grow up and find something important to worry about

Dr Kevin Law, Dundee, UK

Odd how I got completely the opposite impression from this piece that the author seems to have intended. People who are willing to look to any person as a candidate for a relationship of some sort rather than self-limiting to one ethic/racial/economic group is a positive thing no?

Vic, Redmond, Washington, USA

Kindness.

We are looking for someone like us. But you can't see the soul.

Sexy is in the mind of the beholder. How do I think of thee?

So be kind. It becomes more visable than your skin.

Jack E., Highland, NY USA

It is true that it was not until 1967 that the United States Supreme Court struck down a Virginia law against interracial marriage. Virginia, part of the confederacy, is not representative of all parts of the United States, and United States is not quite as backward as this column makes it seem. In 1948 California's Supreme Court held that laws prohibiting interracial marriage were unconstitutional.

Don, san Francisco, California/ USA