4 Myths About Women Body Shapes In Kenya
by Veronique Waithira
Image via Wikipedia
Women generally come in different shapes and sizes, but in Kenya most people think they can literally tell a woman‘ s ethnic background just by looking at her. (They are 43 ethnic groups in Kenya). Strange for sure, while the assumptions are mainly right, most of the time they are way off the mark. There are some women who do not fit the stereotype of their ethnic group and these ones have a very hard time convincing people about their ethnicity. I do not have the body shape that my ethnic group apparently has, and you can just imagine how hard it is convincing someone otherwise. The way my body is shaped is not even remotely related to my ethnicity, I know so many people who are in the same boat as me, and here I want to bust myths about women body shapes in Kenya.
Myth: All Kikuyus suffer from Wangechi Syndrome
The Wangechi Syndrome is a phrase used to describe this particular body shape, whereby the back is connected with the behind, generally creating a very flat derriere. The legs also tend to be very thin,referred to as “hockey stick legs” and the front area is well endowed.
Truth:
Kikuyus like all women come in different shapes and sizes… banana, pear, apple and hour-glass. Some of them however suffer from the Wangechi syndrome, but this should not mean that they all have the same body shape.
Myth: All Luhyas have Luhya legs
The term Luhya legs describes the size of the leg which is big and well-shaped. Luhyas are known to have very beautiful thick legs.
Truth:
Anyone with beautiful thick legs does not automatically qualify to be a Luhya. I know some Luhya friends who are so embarrassed to even wear skirts because they have Kikuyu hockey stick legs.
Myth: All Luos are well endowed behind
It’s commonly accepted that ladies from the lakeside, the Luos are well endowed behind, there is even a popular song “Adhiambo C” which backs up this notion.
Truth:
A stroll in the streets will prove to you that generally Kenyan ladies are blessed in that department, not only the Luos.However, from an objective point of view, the percentage of Luo ladies who are well endowed behind is so high, I have to give it to them.
Myths: All Kalenjins are thin
Kalenjins are the most popular people in the athletic world in Kenya, they can run and do it well.Due to this they are always assumed to have thin frames due to their athletic prowess.
Truth
Most Kalenjins who are thin are mostly in the athletic profession, other than that the rest have generally medium and even heavy sets builds. I remember the first time I say a healthy Kalenjin, took me so much convincing to accept that they can actually grow big…still embarrassed to see I used to put people in a box.
Do you think body shapes are related to ethnicity? Where I came from that seems to be the most acceptable notion, at least by some few majority.
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I knew an American who was living in New Zealand at the time, and she swore she could tell a persons background from their body shape, so the idea is not restricted to Kenya!
I think one can make some generalisations, but that is all.
Ooh, did not know that its interesting to see how people view body shapes in relation to one’s background, or ethinicity in my case. Thanks for that
haha…. i just had to laugh, very interesting article.
Well, it’s true that there is a tendency to link a woman’s body shape to a certain ethnic community. However that should not always be the case. A woman’s body shape should not be expected to automatically correlate with her ethnic background.
You have to take into consideration factors such as; family genetics, body metabolic rates, medical history, environment, nature of job, etc. Most of these factors are beyond human control and thus, there is nothing much that we can do about them.
I would encourage our women to be proud of who they are; irrespective of their body shape. True beauty lies on the inside of a person, not outside. The most beautiful and special things in life are those which are found within a person, where the physical eye cannot see.
So, to all our Kenyan ladies, be confident with your body shapes and make no apologies. Remember, there will never be a more beautiful you…
This is very interesting peek into another culture. Here in the USA we don’t look at women’s shapes to determine their ethnicity, guess the primary language we speak at home besides English is what gives us away…. However, when I come to think of it, it’s true that depending on what country one is from there are certain physical differences such as color, shape of body and height. All part of the beautiful diversity in life!
Very true culture is very diverse and its interesting to see how it affects our perception on many things in life, especially our physical differences.
this was such a delight to read…I think as humans we wld never give up that concept of generalization…every culture have people with various physical attributes but that’s just diversity, nothing that you can really assume is certain for a particular group…unless genetically factual.
lovely blog btw…
Thanks Stella, it’s just lovely how we are all the same and yet so different.
[...] here.Such things are unheard of in Mombasa. Although there are numerous myths surrounding people in Kenya, especially [...]