I notice that in all sorts of situations, women are expected to hug people when greeting them, especially if they have ever met before, while men are mostly expected to do no more than shake hands, whether being introduced or simply exchanging greetings.
So is this a kind of soft sexism, like higher expectations of female dress, neatness and comportment, even in professional settings, or just a thing they do differently than more sensible genders?
I had kind of assumed they liked hugging, due to an unfortunate misunderstanding arising from my first meeting with one of my sisters-in-law, but the apparent universal prevalence of the practice makes me suspicious of that notion. That speaks more to the point that they are being conditioned to expected such a singular violation of their personal spaces as a matter of course, as it is unlikely that an entire gender in a particular culture shares a degree of friendliness and propensity for demonstrating unwarranted affection.
What's other peoples' take?
In my experience there's too much variance for me to believe that hypothesis. Some women seem to hug people easily (even here), others not so much.
Lord Bergioyn of House Jaederan, Baron of Tridea, Pro Tempore Emeritus of the Landsraad, CHOAM Senior Director of Interplanetary Trade
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