76% of Successful Black Brazilian Men Marry White Women - Is Love Really Colour Blind?
Why do most successful black men marry white women in Brazil? Are black Brazilians conditioned to desire whites for marriage? Can interracial relationships cure racism? Where are the black WAGs?
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As Brazil’s best players around the football world are getting ready to compete for sport’s ultimate prize – the World Cup. Off the pitch, the players’ glamorous WAGs (Wives And Girlfriends) are receiving just as much media attention, as their partners prepare to avenge their country’s humiliating defeat in the previous World Cup. As we prepare for the showpiece tournament of “the beautiful game,” this article investigates the black[1] World Cup stars and their women.
Blonde ambition
I vividly remember watching the 1998 World Cup in France when Brazil’s Ronaldo burst onto the world stage. His electrifying performances and silver boots to match brought the football superstar worldwide acclaim. At the time another Brazilian received just as media attention as the man known as O Fenômeno (The Phenomenon). It was his girlfriend at the time, Suzana Werner who was a “big hit off the pitch.” During Brazil’s matches, the cameraman would constantly cut to the white blonde model as commentators would remark “how lucky Ronaldo was to score such a beautiful woman.” Whilst in the UK, I also remember listening to a British radio broadcaster speaking about how inspirational it was for black boys to see “a poor favela kid get a white blonde model.” Although still relatively young at that age, I understood what was being communicated regarding the ‘alleged’ superiority of white women – ‘black men, if you become rich and successful, you need a blonde white woman’!
Blonde ambition
I vividly remember watching the 1998 World Cup in France when Brazil’s Ronaldo burst onto the world stage. His electrifying performances and silver boots to match brought the football superstar worldwide acclaim. At the time another Brazilian received just as media attention as the man known as O Fenômeno (The Phenomenon). It was his girlfriend at the time, Suzana Werner who was a “big hit off the pitch.” During Brazil’s matches, the cameraman would constantly cut to the white blonde model as commentators would remark “how lucky Ronaldo was to score such a beautiful woman.” Whilst in the UK, I also remember listening to a British radio broadcaster speaking about how inspirational it was for black boys to see “a poor favela kid get a white blonde model.” Although still relatively young at that age, I understood what was being communicated regarding the ‘alleged’ superiority of white women – ‘black men, if you become rich and successful, you need a blonde white woman’!
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Brazil’s predilection for white women is well known, especially amongst prominent black players who have exclusively married white women; Pele, Romario, Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos, Cafu, the list is endless. Recently it was reported that the popular former Brazilian player Ronaldinho is preparing to marry his two girlfriends at the same time! Whilst the polygamy of the Brazilian legend raised a few eyebrows, the women did not – both were predictably white! However, with the rise of black consciousness growing in Brazil and an increase in black couple representation in the media, I wondered whether attitudes were changing towards black women amongst Brazil’s football stars.
Lack of ‘black power couples’
In several interviews I carried out between 2014 and 2018 with black Brazilians for my book and an upcoming documentary about race and religion in Brazil, the issue of interracial marriage frequently came up. It was interesting to notice that whilst most black women I spoke to saw it as an issue, a number of black men claimed that there was no preferential treatment shown by them towards white women.
Carla, a black Brazilian woman and native of Salvador, informed me that “70% to 80% of black football players and famous music artists have white wives or girlfriends.” According to Carla, these men see white women as a representation of high status and success which they believe will help them further their career. In response to people who say that the interracial relationships are because of love and affinity, she questions, “it’s funny to see a lot of affinity (between black men) and white women but none with black women!”
In several interviews I carried out between 2014 and 2018 with black Brazilians for my book and an upcoming documentary about race and religion in Brazil, the issue of interracial marriage frequently came up. It was interesting to notice that whilst most black women I spoke to saw it as an issue, a number of black men claimed that there was no preferential treatment shown by them towards white women.
Carla, a black Brazilian woman and native of Salvador, informed me that “70% to 80% of black football players and famous music artists have white wives or girlfriends.” According to Carla, these men see white women as a representation of high status and success which they believe will help them further their career. In response to people who say that the interracial relationships are because of love and affinity, she questions, “it’s funny to see a lot of affinity (between black men) and white women but none with black women!”
76% of Brazil’s World Cup WAGs are white
I wanted to test Carla’s 70% - 80% estimation, so I undertook a research study of Brazilian WAGs over the past three World Cup squads to determine whether it was true that most successful black Brazilians do not date or marry black women. I also wanted to see if there has been any improvement of black players publicly dating/marrying non-black women. I gathered the information from online sites listing World Cup WAGs, as well as by trawling the players’ Instagram accounts. Carla was right. On average, over two-thirds (76%) of Brazil’s black players were with white women. In the last (2014) World Cup squad, 5 out of the 23 players were with black women. In comparison with the current 2018 squad, only 1 player is with a black woman. It does make you wonder whether love is really colour-blind? I guess not, if you’re a famous black footballer in Brazil.
I wanted to test Carla’s 70% - 80% estimation, so I undertook a research study of Brazilian WAGs over the past three World Cup squads to determine whether it was true that most successful black Brazilians do not date or marry black women. I also wanted to see if there has been any improvement of black players publicly dating/marrying non-black women. I gathered the information from online sites listing World Cup WAGs, as well as by trawling the players’ Instagram accounts. Carla was right. On average, over two-thirds (76%) of Brazil’s black players were with white women. In the last (2014) World Cup squad, 5 out of the 23 players were with black women. In comparison with the current 2018 squad, only 1 player is with a black woman. It does make you wonder whether love is really colour-blind? I guess not, if you’re a famous black footballer in Brazil.
Where are the black women?
From the images I came across of the “most beautiful” and “hottest” WAGs of the World Cup, one thing I couldn’t help but notice was the lack of dark-skinned black women. Although the skin complexions of the players range from pale white to very dark, by and large, the featured women were all white, very slim and had long straight hair. Even Nigeria’s most desirable WAG is a white woman![2] So much for diversity! It’s like black women do not exist. Why the lack of appreciation for black women?
From the images I came across of the “most beautiful” and “hottest” WAGs of the World Cup, one thing I couldn’t help but notice was the lack of dark-skinned black women. Although the skin complexions of the players range from pale white to very dark, by and large, the featured women were all white, very slim and had long straight hair. Even Nigeria’s most desirable WAG is a white woman![2] So much for diversity! It’s like black women do not exist. Why the lack of appreciation for black women?
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The images brought to mind the Brazilian adage, “white woman to marry, mixed-race woman to fornicate, and black woman to cook.” A mixed-race Brazilian model whom I spoked to about this said that the promotion of white skin and Eurocentric features as the epitome of female beauty shapes men’s preferences and influences their marital choices. Originally from Salvador but now based in São Paulo, Aline Monaretto, said men in Brazil are taught by society and the media to value white women and “the sexualization of black women is greater in comparison to white women.” She continued, “men are more disrespectful (to black women) in their approach than when they talk to a blonde white woman.”
This is something I have personally witnessed from my trips to Brazil over the past few years. For example, whilst staying at a hotel in Salvador, a first division Brazilian football team also stayed there. Speaking to a couple of the players at the lounge, as men, the topic of women naturally came up. One thing that did surprise me were the players’ repeated comments about how beautiful white European are, and how they would love to travel to Europe and marry a white lady. The vast majority of these players were brown/black from predominantly impoverished black areas. When I questioned about black women, they were not as enthusiastic. I found this extremely strange in all honesty, as growing up watching American hip-hop music videos, I was led to believe that black/brown Brazilian women were the most desired women on earth. Clearly this was not the case for many black Brazilian men.
To be fair, it’s not only black men who commonly marry whites in Brazil, as BBC Brasil and others have reported many successful black women have done the same as one of the players pointed out to me, “but we, black men, get all the blame!” Some have argued that black women have also been conditioned to seek white validation and acceptance. An example of this can be found in the reaction of ‘black Twitter’[3] to the self-identifying biracial actress Meghan Markle marrying Prince Harry of England. According to some media outlets, the engagement “offered hope to black women.”
To be fair, it’s not only black men who commonly marry whites in Brazil, as BBC Brasil and others have reported many successful black women have done the same as one of the players pointed out to me, “but we, black men, get all the blame!” Some have argued that black women have also been conditioned to seek white validation and acceptance. An example of this can be found in the reaction of ‘black Twitter’[3] to the self-identifying biracial actress Meghan Markle marrying Prince Harry of England. According to some media outlets, the engagement “offered hope to black women.”
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‘Purifying the blood’ with interracial marriage
According to Afro-Brazilian YouTuber Ad Junior, black Brazilians are socialised from a very young age to prefer white people as marital partners. As black Brazilians start to climb the social ladder, they tend to marry white, Rio-based African-American journalist, Kiratiana Freelon, observed. The infamous Redemption of Ham painting from 1895, showing a black grandmother praising God that her mixed-race daughter conceived a white child, is an interesting illustration of Brazil’s whitening ideology, miscegenation and black aspirations to marry white.
According to Afro-Brazilian YouTuber Ad Junior, black Brazilians are socialised from a very young age to prefer white people as marital partners. As black Brazilians start to climb the social ladder, they tend to marry white, Rio-based African-American journalist, Kiratiana Freelon, observed. The infamous Redemption of Ham painting from 1895, showing a black grandmother praising God that her mixed-race daughter conceived a white child, is an interesting illustration of Brazil’s whitening ideology, miscegenation and black aspirations to marry white.
After the abolition of slavery in 1888, Brazil’s government was an advocate for scientific racism and wanted to ‘whiten’ its predominately black population by importing white Europeans to lighten the country by way of interracial marriage. Europeans were paid to move to Brazil, but black immigration was banned. These effects still impact the country today as explained to me by Abdul Karim, an Afro-Brazilian teacher living in Rio de Janeiro, “my black grandmother told her daughters to only marry white men to ‘purify our blood’ from our African ancestry. Other black families I spoke to also have the same mentality of ‘purifying the blood’ by interracial marriage.’” If miscegenation really solved the problem of racism, Brazil would be a post-racist society. This miscegenation plan obviously has not worked. Nowadays, many black Brazilian activists are calling for “black marriage” in order to preserve black families and build black communities.
Love, respect and marry black women
Personally, I couldn’t care less who a black footballer is dating or married to, as long as he does the business on the pitch. However, I am well-aware of the huge influence that they have over people, particularly the young. Black sportspersons like musicians are lauded in black communities and are imitated from the way they style their hair, to the clothes that they wear, to the women they deem as beautiful. The trend of successful black footballers with white women is a global phenomenon, particularly amongst men living outside of Africa, Uche Nworah writes.
The fact that in a majority non-white country like Brazil, the majority of successful black sportsmen exclusively date and marry white women, it raises questions about the impact of social conditioning and the media’s lack of black couple representations. Speaking about this, film director Joel Zito Araújo says, “there are very few examples of love between two black people [in Brazil]. The expectation of Brazilian society is that the black person does not have pride in being black and looks to escape blackness with a white partner.”
Personally, I couldn’t care less who a black footballer is dating or married to, as long as he does the business on the pitch. However, I am well-aware of the huge influence that they have over people, particularly the young. Black sportspersons like musicians are lauded in black communities and are imitated from the way they style their hair, to the clothes that they wear, to the women they deem as beautiful. The trend of successful black footballers with white women is a global phenomenon, particularly amongst men living outside of Africa, Uche Nworah writes.
The fact that in a majority non-white country like Brazil, the majority of successful black sportsmen exclusively date and marry white women, it raises questions about the impact of social conditioning and the media’s lack of black couple representations. Speaking about this, film director Joel Zito Araújo says, “there are very few examples of love between two black people [in Brazil]. The expectation of Brazilian society is that the black person does not have pride in being black and looks to escape blackness with a white partner.”
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That being said, hopefully we will see more black Brazilian World Cup couples when the next tournament comes around. In the meantime, it is important that we continue to raise the self-esteem of black girls/women by constantly reminding them how beautiful they are, how wonderful their brown skin looks, and in addition we should encourage our black boys/men to love, respect and marry black women!
Habeeb Akande
[1] By ‘black’ I am referring to a non-white (i.e. black/negro, brown/moreno) Brazilian in this article.
[2] Olga Diyachenko, the wife of Nigerian footballer John Obi Mikel, is Russian.
[3] ‘Black Twitter’ is a cultural identity consisting of "black" Twitter users from around the world on the Twitter social network focused on issues of interest to the black community, particularly in the United States.
Habeeb Akande
[1] By ‘black’ I am referring to a non-white (i.e. black/negro, brown/moreno) Brazilian in this article.
[2] Olga Diyachenko, the wife of Nigerian footballer John Obi Mikel, is Russian.
[3] ‘Black Twitter’ is a cultural identity consisting of "black" Twitter users from around the world on the Twitter social network focused on issues of interest to the black community, particularly in the United States.
67% of England's Black Footballers' WAGs are White Women
A study of the race and skin colour of the WAGs of black and mixed-race England footballers from the last three World Cup squads (2010, 2014 and 2018)*:
- 67% of England's black footballers are married or dating white women and only 15% marry/date black women,
- 39% of England's World Cup squad are black, and 61% are white,
- Only 2 players from the 2018 World Cup squad are married to black women,
- In 2018, 18% of black men were with black women, compared to 11% in 2010.
'* 'Black' refers to mixed-raced and black for the purpose of this study.
A study of the race and skin colour of the WAGs of black and mixed-race England footballers from the last three World Cup squads (2010, 2014 and 2018)*:
- 67% of England's black footballers are married or dating white women and only 15% marry/date black women,
- 39% of England's World Cup squad are black, and 61% are white,
- Only 2 players from the 2018 World Cup squad are married to black women,
- In 2018, 18% of black men were with black women, compared to 11% in 2010.
'* 'Black' refers to mixed-raced and black for the purpose of this study.
