Chile Forum

hmmm interesting discussion..

men will always be 'sexist' and women will always think we're 'sexist'.. its just the way things are.. i dont think its a cultural thing.. i think its why we're so different..
for example.. do men look at women?.. yes they do.. everywhere.. its how we are wired.. now perhaps men in Australia or the US or Canada dont react the same way as men here but they STILL do it.. are Chileans worse cos they are obvious?.. maybe thats just a matter of perception.. having said that I dont think my wife would think its ok i look at women just cos i'm not obvious about it.. i think she would still have a problem with it.. and she does when i tell her that i do.. (perhaps being honest doesnt pay)

which leads me to this point.. why women wanna be treated as equals?.. i mean how do men treat each other?.. how do men speak to each other?.. i dunno if women really understand this.. like i dont think my wife would like it very much if i treated her they way i treat my mates.. dont get me wrong.. its not like i treat my mates badly.. i just treat em like guys.. no tip toeing cos their feelings may get hurt.. brutal honesty.. i know for sure that my wife doesnt handle brutal honesty very well..

what is equality.. is it in JUST some areas? (which wouldnt make it EQUAL)

By the way, I've always wanted to know something that I never asked before but have always been curious about. Do foreign women get shocked or something by the way we chileans greet others (cheek kissing and stuff)?. A girl I know from Taiwan just couldn't stand it coming from other guys, she found it too cheeky (is that the correct word?, i mean 'fresco') but it was OK to her if it was from another girl... and that's the only opinion I have so far.

well "when in Rome..." here in Chile to avoid "the kiss thing" may be considered rude, unpolite, even aggressive.
Diferent countries, diverse customs.

The only time in my life when I cheek kissed a foreign girl as a greeting, without knowing about the possible culture-shock thing was about 2 years ago with an exchange student from Finland, she was a bit surprised but fortunately was OK with it. She was already in Chile anyway, but that made me quickly remember that such things aren't done in other western nations (unless we're talking about the rest of Latin America, Spain or Italy... and maybe parts from the US where there are lots of hispanics).

A classmate who was in California as an exchange student also realised about things like that. A rather curious thing was that having friends from college was a no-no or something like that from what I remember. When she told that I remembered that I had a conversation with a friend from Ohio, who was quite surprised when I told her that my friends here were 17-24 years old.

this is something that caught me by surprise the first time i came to this fine country of kiss greeters.. i was being introduced to a group of girls and they ALL expected a kiss.. i was like..HELLO.. AWKWARD!!.. i had to quickly explain that we didn't greet with a kiss but just a handshake.. i was told we were COLD.. haha.. this made my meeting new people (girls) something to be dreaded as i was definitely not used to greeting with a kiss.. i found it hard enough hugging my female friends.. there was something about my up bringing that made anything physical feel awkward to me.. i was a handshake or hi-five kinda greeter..
Happy to report that i have been HEALED.. Thanks to my wife..

Reactions depend as much upon attitude as upon upbringing -- and the first need not depend upon the second. I've no problem with kiss-greeting, even though I'm as American as one can get, I think. True, such greeting is not traditionally American (despite a growing section of the society which incorporates kiss-greeting as chic -- and your use of "cheeky" is correct, TK, even if amusing in context); but neither is a woman shaking hands, despite its widespread use nowadays.

Give it another few decades, and most Americans may kiss-greet each other without selfconsciousness.