Can't believe I'm doing this.

[Phya]

@tmoz

I’d love to agree with you, but I even saw a hit with a very urban, inner-city ghetto born and raised Caucasian blond. Then again, I haven’t properly tested around the opposite spectrum of the typical African American cultured woman.. finding these Caucasian-by-culture blacks is quite a deal harder since they’re a lot more scarce (in my area + time schedule a least). And when I say Caucasian-by-culture, I don’t just mean ‘acting white and preppy’, I mean full blown raised/adopted by white parents and there being no doubt that she follows the norm of Caucasian society to the T. There can be no integration or overlapping with her own culture at all. (I was really lucky to find that ghetto blond)

Lucky you.

Definitely more scarce simply due to history and prejudice, but also due to increasing cultural overlaps.

@tmoz

Another reason why I don’t believe our natural sensations in result to being exposed to certain stimuli is based off culture is because in this day and age, there’s a larger gray area between what is Caucasian culture and what is African American culture. Sure there’s still a distinct difference, but every day that passes by its become more integrated and universally accepted as ‘American culture.’ But then again, there’s just too many factors in play. I’m just one person, with a numbered amount of experiences that in no way can serve as the proper trial for why I believe its more biological.

Again, cultural overlaps as you said. Yes, there is a larger grey area now, but that’s due to mixing of culture. Greater media distribution/access to media allows for this. Another factor is that we now recognize that even within ethnicities, there can be significant deviations culture, (say from Korea/China/Japan to Phillipines/Thailand/Burma). That’s not even taking into consideration the various sub-cultures within each culture. So now, it’s not so much an issue of Caucasian/Asian/African-American/Latin culture, but more so Korean-American, Korean-Korean, or American-American. And say, within the Korean-American cultures, there are (for lack of better terms) athletic cultures, social cultures, academic cultures which share similarities, as well as differences, with other athletic/social/academic cultures from other ethnic backgrounds.

@tmoz

Another small example is how MX203 works on East Indians. Reactions from someone fresh off the boat and just recently thrown into American society held NO difference to some of the Indians here that epitomize American culture. Then again, I’m just scratching the surface and just can’t conclude at this given time whether it really is biological or cultural, even though I also initially believed cultural since it made a lot more sense in my mind.

I haven’t seen Koreans fresh off the boat and interacted with them, but I did go to Korea and interacted with ‘authentic’ Koreans. My observations were different than my observations here in LA amongst Korean-Americans and American-Koreans, as well as..well just regular Americans.

@tmoz

My theory’s been that the initial sensations and urges are in result of biological factors, but how you act upon them is due to social proofing and cultural upbringing. It’s a lot easier to see effects of pheromones comparing Caucasians to Asians, let’s say. Because the differences of reactions are factored heavily on cultural upbringing. But in the case of African Americans and Caucasians, it’s a lot harder to fully put your foot down and say ‘MX203 illicits this type of behavior because of this cultural aspect’. Because in my opinion, something in MX203 just puts off African American’s biologically. From my experiences at least, so far.

That’s been more or less my theory as well. We share similar biological triggers, but how we interpret and act on those triggers are influenced by cultural background. One thing that needs to be considered, however, is that often, culture is a result of biological or environmental pressures.

Clothes are culture, which are a result of biological pressures. We were cold and needed shelter. So came clothes, and houses. Diet is a consequence of environmental pressures. We are(were) limited in what we can eat by what is around us. So, if there is a biological factor, I think it would be revealed culturally as well. Another consideration in the development of culture would be societal pressures. Regardless of the environment that caucasian blond you spoke of was raised in, she’s still caucasian, and therefore that alters her experience dramatically. Her experience cannot compare to the experience of an African-American female in the same community. The AA female would most likely integrate much faster into the community and adopt cultural norms more readily (here, I would consider biological factors to play a role - skin color alone is one, although we hate to admit it) than the caucasian female. Also, culture is also tied to the past. AAs have a history of slavery (I speak from an American viewpoint, there are many other cases/exceptions) which is ingrained into their culture. The history of slavery is an aspect of their culture that I doubt many AAs feel can be shared by many, if any, of their caucasian counterparts. That’s not to say that other ethnicities haven’t experienced oppression, but rather that the individual context and history of that specific oppression is interpreted by the oppressed community, trickles its way into the culture, and over time becomes an ingrained facet of their culture.

Thus, I conclude that although there are biological factors that separate us, its the cultural commonalities that allow us to interact and communicate. Without culture, we have no society, we’re just a bunch of human beings operating on our most basic instincts. Culture is what binds us together, even the most polarized cultures (every culture has some sort of eating tradition.) So, if we are attempting to form relationships, I feel that common cultures will lead to more rapid formation of relationships than common biology. Because as far as our reproductive systems are concerned, we are all very common biologically, but there are many cultural differences.

@tmoz

Reps for your post.

Thanks, you too for bringing up a good discussion.