As far as radio presenter Colleen George is concerned, there’s no exclusion of anyone anymore, at least for her. Colleen is a native New Yorker of St. Lucian descent who relocated to England in 2006.
In contrast, in the US, even cosmopolitan cities like New York are still finding interracial dating “a bit taboo,” particularly for black women, Colleen says. But in London, it is less unusual for black women to date men of another ethnicity. They are no different than any other eligible women. “In London, guys can just approach you and it’s fine. You’re just like Susie on the street… you’ll get [odd] looks from new people like me, but here it’s just such a norm,” she tells me.
Colleen appreciates the openness of dating the scene. She’s comfortable with the free-spirit qualities of social life here and that is mostly due to her upbringing. “No one judged anyone in my family. I think that was the basis of me being the free thinking person I am. Like who am I to judge?” She asked. “I’m not perfect… You’re responsible for your happiness and I do thank my mom for that.”
For Karolina, a Polish psychology student who migrated to England four years ago, the dating scene may be open, but finding Mr. Right is still difficult. And crossing a cultural divide isn’t always desirable—especially when the person reaching across the gap for you is hitting you up for a one-night stand or has a religious background you don’t agree with. “London is such a melting pot. You have people from so many different countries and sometimes you want to meet people from your own country. And that’s another difficult thing because it’s such a big city and it’s really difficult to meet the proper guy,” Karolina says.
But if Mr. Perfect isn’t available, Noor Hasani would at least like to find Mr. Right Now. “I’m at the stage now where I just need some exposure, I think I just really need to get in the scene because it’s been too long and I can’t wait for the perfect Arab Muslim guy to turn up.”
PREVIOUS PAGE
