Why do women smile at strangers?

[Laplace]

One reason I don't really smile a lot normally (besides the fact that I'm usually relatively stoic) is that my toothy smiles look psychotic sometimes cause my face crinkles up and my eyes narrow more 😁/🔪. And, while I constantly try to smile slightly with my mouth closed to be polite, I look like an arrogant jerk cause my smile comes off as a smirk 😏. And if I don't smile at all, I look too serious 😕. So, lose-lose-lose situation a lot of the time.

[Guest]

I think some women smile at men because it's polite? Like if someone catches my eye (which I utterly hate) by accident while I'm at the shops or whatever, I smile out of politeness because it makes me feel like a rude bitch if I just scowl and look away, and I always think someone else is rude if they don't smile at people. Despite hating being around people I also detest it when people aren't polite. Smiling is a polite way of acknowledging another person.

[R_1]

I don't get it myself. The only real time when I actually legitimately like it when a woman randomly smiled at me is when the woman in question is attractive to me, and she wants me to acknowledge her existence after like 9 weeks or something. (I'm the kind of man who never do the asking, I expect you to ask or give me attention if you want me to give you attention.) At other times, I question why they do it. Same to men who does it to women as well unless there is a good reason to.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Reptillian said:

I don't get it myself. The only real time when I actually legitimately like it when a woman randomly smiled at me is when the woman in question is attractive to me, and she wants me to acknowledge her existence after like 9 weeks or something. (I'm the kind of man who never do the asking, I expect you to ask or give me attention if you want me to give you attention.) At other times, I question why they do it. Same to men who does it to women as well unless there is a good reason to.

Politeness? I thought that's the reason most people smile at others even when they don't feel like it. Sure sometimes it's a flirty thing but mostly I'm sure it's just general etiquette. It seems rude to just scowl at someone who looks at you, I get really annoyed when people scowl at me and I never scowl at others. That's coming from like, the world's most antisocial person haha.

[R_1]

5 minutes ago, ℃å℞t☉☧hℹĿẹ• said:

Politeness? I thought that's the reason most people smile at others even when they don't feel like it. Sure sometimes it's a flirty thing but mostly I'm sure it's just general etiquette. It seems rude to just scowl at someone who looks at you, I get really annoyed when people scowl at me and never scowl at others.

I don't know about you, but for me, not smiling doesn't mean that you're scowling at me. For me, it means that you're not really acting, and I'm fine with that. Now, if you smiled at me and you seem to know me from a distance, I'm going to assume you want attention from me or you have a interest in me. if I don't know you or have a idea that you know me, and you smiled at me, I'm going to assume that you're just going by etiquette. For me, etiquette means bullshitting, and not acting like who you actually are.

[Guest]

50 minutes ago, Reptillian said:

I don't know about you, but for me, not smiling doesn't mean that you're scowling at me. For me, it means that you're not really acting, and I'm fine with that. Now, if you smiled at me and you seem to know me from a distance, I'm going to assume you want attention from me or you have a interest in me. if I don't know you or have a idea that you know me, and you smiled at me, I'm going to assume that you're just going by etiquette. For me, etiquette means bullshitting, and not acting like who you actually are.

Who I actually am is someone who is polite in public and someone who detests rude people. Just because I don't want anything to do with people socially and personally doesn't mean I'm not extremely polite which has made me the best customer service representative consistently in all the customer service positions I have worked in the past. Some people are naturally polite and view politeness as an extremely valuable and important trait in themselves and others when out in public. That's just who I am when I'm out and about in the world. I believe there are many people like me who smile out of politeness because it's better than being a rude jerk lol, so that's my answer to the initial question asked by Joe. I literally think it's just a politeness thing for most people. And again, being polite isn't being false. Some people are genuinely and naturally very polite. I also seem to be in a better position to respond than you, as a female bodied person who smiles in public if someone happens to catch my eye. You're just speculating as to why they do it and pretty much complaining about them and calling them false. I'm explaining why I, as a "woman", may smile at a man (or anyone) in public, despite having absolutely no interest in knowing them on any personal or social level.

[Guest]

On 24/12/2016 at 5:33 AM, Joe Parrish said:

I have noticed that this is a thing that women do that men do not.  If I pass by a woman in public, and we are even vaguely looking toward each other, she will smile at me.  This seems to be a thing that women of all ages do too.  Even recently, this girl about my age was walking down a grocery store aisle, arms locked with her boyfriend, and even she shot me a smile.

 

Men don't seem to smile.  A brief moment of eye contact elicits mostly nothing.  I know I don't go around smiling at people.  Why is there this difference?

I think men are much more likely to smile at women and less likely to smile at other men (which may be why you notice less men smiling at you when I notice it every time I'm out) and more women just smile in general at men or woman if they seem to be looking in their general direction. That's how it is in my experience and again I feel it's just an impulsive politeness thing. That's what it is for me when I smile at others. The same way my step dad always tips his finger on the steering wheel at passing cars when he's driving. Its just an impulsive politeness thing (though of course sometimes a woman smiling at you could be flirtatious or whatever, I just feel that more often it's politeness)

 

Edit: just realised this thread is quite old haha.

 

 

[Joe the Stoic]

8 minutes ago, ℃å℞t☉☧hℹĿẹ• said:

I think men are much more likely to smile at women and less likely to smile at other men (which may be why you notice less men smiling at you when I notice it every time I'm out) and more women just smile in general at men or woman if they seem to be looking in their general direction. That's how it is in my experience and again I feel it's just an impulsive politeness thing. That's what it is for me when I smile at others. The same way my step dad always tips his finger on the steering wheel at passing cars when he's driving. Its just an impulsive politeness thing (though of course sometimes a woman smiling at you could be flirtatious or whatever, I just feel that more often it's politeness)

 

Edit: just realised this thread is quite old haha.

 

 

Better late than never, Pan.

 

The flirtatious thing is unlikely.  I'm guessing it's the politeness.

[Rhyme]

I've been told that I look grumpy when I don't smile, so I either keep my eyes on the ground or smile. 

Also, it makes my day better for a short while when a stranger smiles at me. 

[Sherlocks]

On 12/23/2016 at 8:33 AM, Joe Parrish said:

I have noticed that this is a thing that women do that men do not.  If I pass by a woman in public, and we are even vaguely looking toward each other, she will smile at me.  This seems to be a thing that women of all ages do too.  Even recently, this girl about my age was walking down a grocery store aisle, arms locked with her boyfriend, and even she shot me a smile.

 

Men don't seem to smile.  A brief moment of eye contact elicits mostly nothing.  I know I don't go around smiling at people.  Why is there this difference?

 

 

 

Men do it too sometimes. Its considered polite to smile at people. In all honestly smiling back at me scares me because it means you noticed me looking in your direction and my goal is to be invisible.  Smiles, shake hands, make eye contact are what we consider polite and friendly behavior. If you are awkward though you probably look away pretending you weren't looking in that direction. 

[Tairaadansu]

I'm just nice, I smile at most everyone. I am pretty polite as well.