Just thinking about the topic makes me laugh because it just shows how deliberately delusional anyone that makes such a statement is. It shows how backward-thinking that person is, because in this global age where many people are looking for ‘the way forward’, such a person is always on the lookout for seeming characteristics and reasons why being with a person from a particular ethnic group is never going to happen. You know, people sometimes say things that make you want to doubt their sanity. Over time, certain snide comments have been made so often that today in Nigeria, such comments are somewhat accepted and ‘set in stone’.
For the females: Yoruba girls are dirty; Edo girls are prostitutes and witches; Ibo girls are materialistic; Kogi girls are troublemakers; Ijaw women like parties and ‘enjoyment’; Itshekiri women like ‘Oyibo’; Calabar girls are good in bed; Tiv girls are sexually wayward plus they drink heavily; Isoko girls are stingy; Urhobo girls drink a lot. And for the guys, Yoruba guys are caring plus they scare easily; Hausa men are uncircumcised; Urhobo men are polygamous; Ibo guys can really take care of their women (only if she’s Ibo too); Isoko men are stingy; Tiv men will gladly give their women up as entertainment to their friend; Kogi men are touts; Ijaw men are flirts; Ibo guys can do anything for money… bla bla bla would you stop already??
Are tribal stereotypes 100% accurate? Or maybe 80%, 50%, 20%? Does your ethnic origin dictate your personality? For example if Ijaw men are flirts, automatically all the male flirts in this country are Ijaw men, right? Do you grow up to discover that your tribe is known for a particular trait and you naturally find yourself exhibiting that trait, or if you don’t have it yet, you make sure it becomes part of you? Is it also sometimes an excuse to behave abnormally? For example they say an Ibo man can do anything for money, so this young man goes to scary extremes just to get money and he says, “you know my people love money, so it’s not my fault”.
Personally I don’t care that a person is from a particular ethnic group before I become friends or even have a relationship with them. I deal more with personal qualities rather than tribal sentiments. The world is full of beautiful varieties, different cultures waiting to be educated about than for me to weigh myself down with some myopic so-called ‘ethnic traits’. That’s me, so what about you? Do you consider the said traits of a person’s tribe before you consider even saying, ‘hello’ how much more dating? Or maybe you have a list of tribes you would NEVER consider marrying from, regardless of whether the person is a good person or not. If you do, just take a second to think how you would feel if someone you really, really like tells you ‘NO!” because you belong to a certain ethnic group they already decided they want nothing to do with.
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