Some of the most poorly co-ordinated gym members are ethnic minorities, but it doesn't seem to be race related most of time. Bad rhythm does not seem to discriminate at my gym.
Last year I lived with two Greek girls. One of them was telling me about a black girl she met who couldn't dance. She asked the girl which side of her was white, because she refused to accept that a fully black person had no rhythm. She then went on to say, that it would be like seeing a black woman without a big bum.
Annoyingly, I fitted her stereotype of having a big behind and being able to drop it like its hot but I have met some Caucasian women with juicy doubles and some black women whose backs go straight into their legs. And George Michael already let us know that it's guilty feet that have no rhythm. Despite this, there is an enduring stereotype that white people can't dance and I must admit that I myself have witnessed some moves that were hard to distinguish between dancing or having a seizure.
There must be a link between race and sport. Soon we can probably expect to see all 8 lanes of a short distance championship race to be occupied by Jamaicans. And I think it's fair to say that Ethopians and Kenyans are expected to win any long distance track race. And how many black people do you see in the swimming pool? Women, I understand. With the ordeal that black women have to put themselves through to get their hair done; whether it's braids, relaxed or weave, there is nothing in the world worth ruining that. Unless maybe it's a pool of liquid gold but unless I can steal some, it would be pointless. I personally have decided to stay out of the pool because I am frequently mistaken for a fat bottomed shark; thanks to my ample derrière being the only thing that is visible above the surface of the water.
In my house at least, there are some stereotypes that we live up to. Most people would say that the way to a black man's heart is through chicken. If you can make chicken as good as his mama can make, he'll probably put a ring on it at some stage. Two of my brothers can eat their weight in chicken. The proudest I have ever seen my twin (even more than when he qualified as a doctor) was when he made a meal consisting of 5 variations of chicken. His smile had never been wider. There literally wasn't a single thing on that plate that didn't come from a chicken. When the riots in 2011 hit Croydon, no one dared touch Nandos. KFC was safe too. It was like there was an unspoken rule that chicken shops were not fair game, as surrounding stores got the brunt of the violence. A friend of mine dated a black guy who claimed to be vegetarian. Our immediate responses were that he was either joking or not actually black.
Over the summer, I had a brief love affair with football courtesey of the World Cup and I now know what the offside rule is. I can't put it into words but I know what it looks like on the pitch and can shout out at the appropriate time. In fact, that's the only time my brother accepts me speaking. He frequently states that women should be seen and not heard, and asks me what I'm doing out of the kitchen. I've therefore made it my mission to be as unladylike as possible when I'm around him. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Stereotypes are largely negative and can affect how certain groups are treated. But not all stereotypes are pejorative. For example, Polish people are stereotyped as being hard workers, Asians are labelled as geniuses and black men are often credited with being well endowed. I only agree with two of these three statements but I'll let you guess which ones they are (get your mind out of the gutter!).
Stereotypes can be funny, especially when they are true. But I don't think anyone with all seriousness would believe that a statement could genuinely apply to a whole group of individuals. What makes this world such an interesting place is how different we all are. Even amongst my siblings, I am quite different in my thinking and approach to things. If I can vary that much from people who share a portion of my DNA, then how much more so for complete strangers, whose only similarities are the colour of our skin or the fact we both have boobs.
We must never be afraid to be a sign of contradiction for the world.
Mother Teresa