Glee actress Naya Rivera is known for being rather outspoken, so it's no surprise that she raised a fair share of eyebrows when she appeared on The View as a guest host yesterday and stated that she thinks "white people" shower too much. Yes, really.
Specifically, Naya declared:
I think that white people shower a lot more than ethnic. I feel like showering more than once a day or every day is such a white people thing.
Okaaaay then. Seems to us that how much you shower may have more to do with how much physical activity you're getting, whether you have to keep a close eye on kiddos for the majority of your waking hours, or you know, just your personal preference, body odor, etc. -- NOT your ethnic background.
More from The Stir: This Mom Can Admit It: I Don’t Shower Every Day
But you know, to see what real women had to say about Naya's wacky claims -- which she has since apologized for (sort of) -- we did some digging and interviewing.
One white mom from New York who has two tweens admitted to us that she showers twice a day, but not because she's all freaked out about cleanliness necessarily. Instead, she explains, "It’s become almost a sanctuary at the end of a long day, a place where nobody bothers me! Well, that used to be the case. My daughter now likes to sneak in there with me."
But another mom of two, who is from Florida and also happens to be white, shared her opposite experience: "My daughter is turning 6, and I'm just now at the point where I average almost one shower a day (average -- not always!). There were years in there though that I would honestly not be able to remember the last time I showered, and that I definitely counted swimming as bathing! Note: I do work from home, which I think is much more relevant to someone's shower habits than the color of their skin."
Black moms on our CafeMom boards happen to agree. "I'm black, and I shower every day, always have," says one anonymous mom. "It has nothing to do with my ethnicity. Perhaps it has to do with my culture (American), but the color of my skin has nothing to so with my hygiene habits."
Another anonymous CafeMom member explained that she's black and showers once a day, but "I can see where that could come into play as far as shampooing hair. ... I only shampoo my hair about once every two weeks, whereas from my understanding, a lot of other ethnicities shampoo their hair daily."
And what do Naya's fellow Latinas have to say about the actress' remarks?
A Latina mother of two from New Jersey shares, "As a mom and 'an ethnic' (um, her use of 'ethnic' as a noun is so much more disturbing than her comment!), I think that she is certifiably insane, and if she doesn't shower daily, it has nothing to do with her background or her ethnicity! Cleanliness is not a cultural thing."
Really, there you have it, folks. Maybe Naya should stop making sweeping generalizations about people's personal hygiene and stick to singing pop song covers in the shower (however frequently she wants!).
How frequently do you shower? Do you think it has anything to do with your cultural background?
Image via ABC