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Why do women smile at strangers?


Joe the Stoic

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2 minutes ago, Scottthespy said:

 If you notice women doing it more often, it may be because you are in a culture where women are taught that they're allowed to be more open with their feelings, while men are taught to keep them bottled up. In a culture like this, women would be more comfortable showing their happiness while recognizing a fellow human being, while men would be more inclined to hide any sort of emotion that came from that recognition.

It's not only that women can express emotions where men can't. In many cases women are expected to show positive, supportive feelings whether genuine or not. Meanwhile, men are often discouraged from smiling and making eye contact except when flirting.

 

I say let friendly people be friendly and busy people get on with their lives. I have no time to smile at strangers. I'm too busy smiling at their dogs.

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1 hour ago, Phoenix the II said:

I really never noticed :o, ... shit now that I know this I will start looking for it!

Like the 'eyebrow flash' 

Quote

The eyebrow flash  is an unconscious social signal, wherein a person, wishing to approach another whom they recognize and are preparing for social contact, raises their eyebrows for approximately one-fifth of a second.

Once you realise you do it, then you try to stop it :D

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biancaboricua13
24 minutes ago, Snow Cone said:

I say let friendly people be friendly and busy people get on with their lives. I have no time to smile at strangers. I'm too busy smiling at their dogs.

Exactly, the pups get all of my love....

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2 hours ago, Telecaster68 said:

Classic AVEN. Someone asks 'why...' and gets a bunch of posts from people describing what they do...

I like to eat pizza. 

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Yup, lots of variables, including but not limited to the fact that women are conditioned and socially expected to be polite and non-confrontational. 

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Autumn Season
20 minutes ago, borkfork said:

This comic I like also pretty much says social conditioning. Also, ugh.

 

This comic reminded me of the time I smiled when I was being harassed in a (dance) club because it was my birthday and I pretended to have a good time. Later I was told one of my friends wanted to "save" me but didn't because I was smiling. Stupid me. But I learned.

 

Edit: I smile to "make" myself have a good time. It cheers me up.

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Anime Pancake

I'm not the most masculine person but I'm a guy and I smile naturally when around other people.

 

I do it to be nice and polite.

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I do it sometimes.  Part of it is that when I'm nervous, I smile, and I'm frequently low-key nervous out in public.  The other part is just trying to seem like a nice, non-threatening person, I think.

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EmotionalAndroid

I personally try to avoid eye contact with people because it feels really awkward for me. If I do make eye contact, I will try to smile, just so I don't appear to be scowling at the person.

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I'm a dude and I try to smile out of courtesy and so that I look more friendly cause normally I look serious and unapproachable (which is admittedly useful in some cases). The problem is I kind of suck at smiling cause I'm not a smiley person so sometimes it comes across as an arrogant smirk or a cruel grimace. Problem is, people tend to like friendly people more so I'm at a disadvantage when it comes to moving up the social ladder.

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SorryNotSorry

I never noticed it. But then again, I avoid making eye contact with strangers because to me it's intimidating.

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Because societal social expectations say we should smile to seem pleasant and attractive. Customer service positions also train you to smile as a greeting to everyone you pass. Those things combined make habits that are hard to break. 

 

When I pass by men sometimes and do not smile, I get told "Smile honey!" or other such stuff. But, I usually smile as a greeting thing, after being in customer service for 6 months it just became habit. 

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I smile unless I'm in a big hurry or in a big crowd - but I would acknowledge someone I'm passing on the street for sure.  I find it a little sad when people look away and do everything to avoid eye contact.  Sometimes I will make extra effort if someone seems depressed or preoccupied.  It's just a little thing we can do for each other during our shared time on earth. 

Those of you who don't smile...how do you feel when someone smiles at you?  Do you feel acknowledged?  Strange?  This is an interesting topic. 

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10 minutes ago, Greenmeadow said:

I smile unless I'm in a big hurry or in a big crowd - but I would acknowledge someone I'm passing on the street for sure.  I find it a little sad when people look away and do everything to avoid eye contact.  Sometimes I will make extra effort if someone seems depressed or preoccupied.  It's just a little thing we can do for each other during our shared time on earth. 

Those of you who don't smile...how do you feel when someone smiles at you?  Do you feel acknowledged?  Strange?  This is an interesting topic. 

It feels a bit strange if people smile at me when I'm passing them on the street. I have this annoying habit where I automatically wonder if their motives for smiling at me go beyond simple courtesy or acknowledgement (especially if they're guys, just from personal experience) - but then I remind myself that not everyone is like that, so I end up stuck halfway between "uhh, what...?" and "hey, they seem nice". I definitely react to people who smile at me (it feels rude for me otherwise), but I'm more prone to giving a smaller smile and tipping my head to them, rather than reciprocating the full smile they offered.

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All the little Lights

 

If anyone's interested, a youtube video about this I saw once, and remembered. Because I think it's quite interesting!

I haven't thought about the cultures yet, but that is really interesting too!

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I don't look at others much in public, but sometimes I see women smiling at me/babies waving randomly. Sometimes it is men. It is a really nice thing that makes me slightly happier. I don't say hello or anything to anyone first in public out of fear of being ignored, but I do when someone does it to me. 

 

...and for some reason, people like to randomly joke around with me. <_<

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Because I like to be friendly.

 

And I've seen men smile at me first or smile in response so I can't say I've ever noticed a difference.

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It helps keep me safe. Some men in particular react violently when I'm not smiling (they think I owe it to them?) and get aggressive verbally and sometimes even physically by blocking my path or following me until I comply with their request to smile. It helps ward them off.

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Squirrel Combat

I at least give a small grin to people when I'm out.

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personally I've never noticed a difference in the sexes as to who smiles at strangers, but then again I never really payed attention to who smiles at me or not, I do it and interpret it basically a friendly way to say hello to a random person passing by you on the street, similar to the nod people sometimes give as a non-verbal way of saying "well hello there fellow existent being"...

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biancaboricua13
2 hours ago, Greenmeadow said:

Those of you who don't smile...how do you feel when someone smiles at you?  Do you feel acknowledged?  Strange?  This is an interesting topic. 

I give a head nod if someone is smiling at me and if it's a child I will say hi but I don't feel obligated to smile back. I figure that is their strange way of saying hello, I feel no societal or cultural pressure to smile when walking about and seeing others. I can greet others without all of that.

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nanogretchen4

I have resting smiley face, so I don't need a reason to smile, but if I'm not smiling there's probably a reason. Also, I'm from Texas. Smiling and greeting strangers when you pass them on the street is normal for men as well as women. People from the Northern States are pretty obvious from their tense, grumpy expressions. If a Texan visits New York sometimes it makes the natives suspicious because they think we must want something. My father has that problem more than I do, though, because I guess it's more normal for a woman to smile at strangers than a man.

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13 minutes ago, nanogretchen4 said:

. People from the Northern States are pretty obvious from their tense, grumpy expressions. 

We're cold.  It's hard to smile when you're cold.  

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I think in the end, it all just depends on the person and everyone have different reasons for smiling.

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I have only ever noticed one woman i didn't know smiling at me as I passed her, I was in Dublin and I had been carrying a novel proudly with me so my conclusion being that smile had nothing to do with me but more a "books are awesome" smile, which is very true and understandable.

 

A famous person who is renowned for always having a smile on his face is Esteban chaves, a professional cyclist. He is male and is always smiling. It's infectious and I get a little bit of joy if I see him interviewed after a race.

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Janus the Fox

it's a normal social thing, often a non-verbal communication thing to display social openness, friendliness and kindness.  People of such a personality or good mood do so, regardless of gender.

 

A person's display of smiles are variably different dependent on a persons intentions, thoughts and so on.  It is also variable between cultures or on a persons non-verbal emotional intellect, abilities to display such a social non-verbal cue.

 

Many here ask such questions which i see a lot more common on an autism spectrum forum. 

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