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 programs across Australia. As a producer, she has worked with Jon Faine, Helen Razer, Derryn Hinch, Waleed Aly, singer Clare Bowditch, Jonathan Green, Patricia Karvelas and comedians Nazeem Hussain and Tony Moclair. She’s had a long working relationship with gonzo journalist John Safran and his co-host Father Bob Maguire. Her documentary work has covered the Turkish history at Gallipoli and a retrospective look at 1960s Turkish popular music.
In 2014, Serpil formed part of ABC Local’s broadcast team for the live coverage of ANZAC Day from ANZAC Cove and Lone Pine in Gallipoli. And in 2015, she returned to Turkey for the ABC’s broadcast of the centenary commemorations. In 2016 she presented The Sunday Sesh, which aired nationally on ABC Local Radio and in 2017 she hosted the ABC Local Radio national afternoons program during the summer line-up.
Santilla Chingaipe
Santilla Chingaipe is a filmmaker, historian and author, whose work explores settler colonialism, slavery, and postcolonial migration in Australia. Chingaipe’s critically acclaimed and award-winning documentary Our African ...
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 Research: Contemporary Methods for the Digital Age (SAGE 2016) and (with Timothy Marjoribanks) Sport and Society in the Global Age (Palgrave Macmillan 2012). Karen holds MA and PhD degrees from Harvard University and a BA from the University of California, Berkeley.