Comment by tene

4 years ago

I'm curious if you or anyone else can share more detail or some examples regarding cross-cultural differences in societal expectations.

I've got some guesses about what this might mean, but I haven't studied this, and don't have any personal experience here.

6 comments

tene

Reply
DoreenMichele  4 years ago

A fairly obvious one: If you are from a culture where sex before marriage is permissible and you are a woman, men from cultures where women are expected to remain virgins until the wedding night may see you as "a loose woman."

In such cases, they may even feel entitled to have you and get very mad if you try to tell them no.

People from very conservative cultures tend to wildly misinterpret the actions of women from more liberated and empowered cultures. Her behavior may be viewed as promiscuous or as leading him on when she's doing no such thing.

Some cultures expect a man to have to pursue a woman pretty hard before she says "yes." I read one article where a man from such a culture was sort of frustrated or disappointed when his lady from another culture gave it up too easily in his view. He wasn't happy at not having to "work for it."

  • JamesBarney  4 years ago

    I hadn't thought about this before but it seems to ring true. Even in the U.S. this spectrum exists. There are women who expect explicit consent i.e. "is it ok if I kiss you?", and other women who find that a turn off and expect more sexual assertiveness (aggressiveness?).

    • DoreenMichele  4 years ago

      Just to be crystal clear:

      You don't have to be different nationalities to experience cross cultural misunderstandings. Americans come in a variety of religious persuasions, ethnicities, etc.