I started writing my personal (unconditional) love letter to black women back in September of 1983 when my mother brought me into this world at Good Samaritan Hospital. Next she brought me home to my grandmother, and sister who sought to protect this little ‘high yellow’ baby named Cedric. Black women comprise the foundation of my very existence. When I think back to triumphant/trying times in life I can always link my perseverance to the black women I was surrounded with.

The first image I saw of beauty was not some Euro centric, blonde hair, blue eyed woman. Nope.  The beauty I have and will always be in love with is that of a darker complexion. No need for code terms like exotic, I love my women undeniably black. I love all shades of blackness and I am sure that my wife will be a black woman. So you can understand my frustration when I saw the “scientific data” presented in Satoshi Kanazawa’s post “Why are Black Women Less Physically Attractive Than Other Women” recently on Psychology Today. (You might have read the response piece here on Madame Noire.)

It caught my attention because of the firestorm it created on Twitter; I was tempted to disregard it because I have no desire to invite nonsense into my psyche. To my dismay I did check it out and the first thing I found alarming was that the author was claiming that these findings were objective, which I found troublesome because I was always taught that beauty was in the eye of the beholder. Secondly, I have to question the “objectiveness” of those who participated in this study, growing up in America and across the world we have been conditioned that white is beautiful thus black is not. How can something be objective when so many have been conditioned that beauty looks more like Lindsay Lohan than Sanaa Lathan?

Obviously I disagree with the findings that black women are the least attractive group of women and rather than give more attention to such a negative article, allow me to explain why to me; black women are the most beautiful women to walk this earth. I don’t have to put other women down to lift my women up; they stand tall on their own.

What makes someone attractive? That question has as many answers as there are stars in the sky; every man has his own criteria by which he abides. For me a woman needs to be beautiful inside and out.

Here’s what I mean when I say beautiful inside and out: