A recent peer-review study found that black individuals who discover as mixed-race are considered more attractive. 

Published within the June 2016 issue of Review of Black Political Economy, the study’s findings are based entirely off of perception and didn’t take conventional variables like hair texture and skin tone under consideration.

“The straightforward perception of exoticism sways people to see multicultural blacks as better-looking,” said study creator Robert L. Reece, an African American doctoral candidate in sociology at Duke University. The identical held true even when the person was not actually of mixed race, so long as they identified as such.

In a series of controlled interviews, Reece attempted to check and measure the ability of perception. 3,200 black subjects were asked questions on their racial backgrounds. Interviewers then graded everybody’s attractiveness on a scale of 1 to five, with 5 being essentially the most attractive. The common attractiveness rating amongst subjects who identified as mixed race was 3.74; while those that identified as black got a rating of three.47 – a big difference that alludes the ability of racial bias.

“I’ve even noticed some people in black communities casually using the terms ‘mixed’ and ‘light-skinned’ interchangeably. So I desired to begin an empirical investigation into the contemporary links between the 2 and the way they mix to shape people’s life experiences,” Reece shared. 

These findings give credence to the institution of colorism, the assumption that individuals of non-African descent are more desirable. As explored in movies like Spike Lee’s School Daze and Jungle Fever, this phenomena of favoritism based on multicultural heritage has existed for years.