Nota introdutória: Contrariamente ao que me é habitual, hoje vou escrever em inglês sobre um dilema cultural, que me assola há algum tempo e, que não consigo compreender. Porquê em inglês? Bom, porque já reparei que, volta e meia, me aparecem visitas do continente americano. Talvez sejam turistas acidentais mas, nesse caso, lembrei-me que seria interessante aproveitar essas passagens de surpresa e tentar descobrir porque razão os americanos, quando saem à noite, os homens saem só com homens e as mulheres saem só com mulheres? O facto de não conseguir compreender porque tal acontece, deixa-me doido da vida. Por isso, vamos tentar descobrir.
As you may have noticed, today I have decided to write in English, why? Well, the answer is quite simple and has hardly anything to do with whether or not I need to practice my writing skills in a foreign language (which is also very welcome of course, but it is not the main subject). So the answer to the previous question lies in the fact that I am curious about the reason why Americans - when deciding to go out at night - only go out in groups either composed just by men or just by women.
Personally, I have to admit that I find it a little bit confusing. Perhaps it would make some sense if I, actually, lived there and that would have been something I would have grown up with. Yet, that’s not the case and we – the Europeans – are bound to have a different perspective on these things since we don’t do that over here, I mean, at least not in southern Europe we don’t.
In here when we decide to go out, regardless of what day of the week it may be, we go out in mixed groups. Gender is not something we take into consideration for the purpose of going out (unless someone within a group of friends is going to get married or so, and even that is starting to make less sense because we are currently opting for alternative ways of staying together other than recurring to the traditional figure of marriage). So, no matter how many turns my head gives while looking at this subject, I can’t find a logical explanation for it.
Some possible, common sense, explanations like:
1- Guys get together to do guy’s stuff;
2 – Girls get together to do girl’s stuff.
This is, basically, a load of crap. Whatever guys do, girls do as well and the only difference is that within a mixed group whatever happens, it happens right in front of everybody. So what?
Could another possibility be the lack of conversation (between genders on a friendly basis) or not knowing what to say? Well, I wouldn’t find it to be a very convincing answer since within a mixed group everybody speaks about everything quite freely, regardless of the topic, and we really don’t see any problem with it.
Also, another confusing issue is the touching thing. What’s the problem with greeting your friends with a kiss on the cheek if it is a woman and a handshake if it is a man (depending on your own gender of course, women just go on kissing everybody on the cheek, which is a very cool thing to do by the way)? Or what’s wrong with hugging a friend? It is just a sign of affection, not a hidden message of some sort. Hell! If there was a hidden message every time I hugged friend, or distributed kisses on the cheek, I’d be really, really popular (or something like that).
So in conclusion, I don’t quite understand that sort of gender “apartheid” and if there is anyone out there who could enlighten this “pretty” little head of mine, I would be very thankful (mostly because it bugs me not knowing the answer).
As you may have noticed, today I have decided to write in English, why? Well, the answer is quite simple and has hardly anything to do with whether or not I need to practice my writing skills in a foreign language (which is also very welcome of course, but it is not the main subject). So the answer to the previous question lies in the fact that I am curious about the reason why Americans - when deciding to go out at night - only go out in groups either composed just by men or just by women.
Personally, I have to admit that I find it a little bit confusing. Perhaps it would make some sense if I, actually, lived there and that would have been something I would have grown up with. Yet, that’s not the case and we – the Europeans – are bound to have a different perspective on these things since we don’t do that over here, I mean, at least not in southern Europe we don’t.
In here when we decide to go out, regardless of what day of the week it may be, we go out in mixed groups. Gender is not something we take into consideration for the purpose of going out (unless someone within a group of friends is going to get married or so, and even that is starting to make less sense because we are currently opting for alternative ways of staying together other than recurring to the traditional figure of marriage). So, no matter how many turns my head gives while looking at this subject, I can’t find a logical explanation for it.
Some possible, common sense, explanations like:
1- Guys get together to do guy’s stuff;
2 – Girls get together to do girl’s stuff.
This is, basically, a load of crap. Whatever guys do, girls do as well and the only difference is that within a mixed group whatever happens, it happens right in front of everybody. So what?
Could another possibility be the lack of conversation (between genders on a friendly basis) or not knowing what to say? Well, I wouldn’t find it to be a very convincing answer since within a mixed group everybody speaks about everything quite freely, regardless of the topic, and we really don’t see any problem with it.
Also, another confusing issue is the touching thing. What’s the problem with greeting your friends with a kiss on the cheek if it is a woman and a handshake if it is a man (depending on your own gender of course, women just go on kissing everybody on the cheek, which is a very cool thing to do by the way)? Or what’s wrong with hugging a friend? It is just a sign of affection, not a hidden message of some sort. Hell! If there was a hidden message every time I hugged friend, or distributed kisses on the cheek, I’d be really, really popular (or something like that).
So in conclusion, I don’t quite understand that sort of gender “apartheid” and if there is anyone out there who could enlighten this “pretty” little head of mine, I would be very thankful (mostly because it bugs me not knowing the answer).
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