Skip to content

Blinkered Vision: Race and Dating in Australia

When

Event Status

Do you have a thing for ‘tall, dark and handsome’ types? Are you a gentleman who prefers blondes? Are our romantic types and tastes simply that – matters of taste – or do our preferences reveal deeper prejudices?

Earlier this year, journalist Santilla Chingaipe presented a funny and riveting documentary on SBS, Date My Race, about the role race plays in the world of 21st-century dating. In the documentary, Chingaipe interviewed sociologists, psychologists, research scientists and daters – looking closely at the data to reveal some confronting trends and patterns in Australia’s online dating landscape.

At the Wheeler Centre in May, the conversation around dating and race continues. Host Serpil Senelmis will be joined by sociologist Karen Farquharson and Chingaipe herself for a discussion about conscious and unconscious biases, the factors that drive attraction and the notion that opposites attract. Do racial preferences equal racism? Join us for a discussion of dating today.

Featuring

Serpil Senelmis

Serpil Senelmis is an Australian broadcaster with Turkish heritage. She is the co-director of Written & Recorded, a content agency. The West Australian Academy of Performing Arts graduate has worked behind the microphone, in front of the camera and behind the scenes of radio and television progr... Read more

Santilla Chingaipe

Santilla Chingaipe is a filmmaker, historian and author, whose work explores settler colonialism, slavery, and post-colonial migration in Australia. Chingaipe’s first book of non-fiction detailing the untold stories of convicts of African descent is forthcoming, and the critically acclaimed and aw... Read more

Karen Farquharson

Karen Farquharson is Professor of Sociology and Head of the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Melbourne. Her research focuses on the sociology of racism, migration, media and sport. Her most recent books are (with Vivienne Waller and Deborah Dempsey) Qualitative Social Res... Read more

Location

The Wheeler Centre

176 Little Lonsdale Street Melbourne Victoria 3000

More details

Stay up to date with our upcoming events and special announcements by subscribing to The Wheeler Centre's mailing list.

Privacy Policy

The Wheeler Centre acknowledges the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung people of the Kulin Nation as the Traditional Owners of the land on which the Centre stands. We acknowledge and pay our respects to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and their Elders, past and present, as the custodians of the world’s oldest continuous living culture.