For a city that is all about showing public acceptance of gays and trans, why do the men seem so uptight as a matter of respect and greeting, for a man to kiss another man’s face, on the cheek of course?
Explain how people are all for 2 men frnech kissing, but a friendship kiss is too sexual, there seems to be a contradiction.
Are men not comfortable showing a bond with other men but let’s love the gays? I grew up with a kiss on the forehead or cheek is strictly general affection to show a sentimental care for the person.
Culturally it is not a normal gesture here, like it is in other countries. That’s all there is to it.
To clarify, I’m talking about men who spend a lot of personal time with each other, I’m not talking about first time meeting. What level of physical affection is comfortable for male friendships?
Side hugs, fist bumps and punches on the shoulder.
Air kisses beside both cheeks if you’re in cultured society (French influence).
Hand holding and full contact kissing of adult males is considered romantic, not friendly.
It’s an interesting clash of cultures that resulted in this weird situation.
It sounds like you can apprecuate the conundrum.
Yeah; I’ve got friends from other cultures, so I’ve witnessed this particular culture shock many times. As a multigenerational native of the area, I always found it odd even before I learned that other cultures do things differently.
Considering how clear the local message is that in order to fully respect somone you keep a physical distance from them, no affection of any kind, it’s made the people of this city for cold and have no soul.
I’m more comfortable with immigrants than Canadians.
Please try not to take it personally. It’s just a different culture. Here’s some more elaboration on the topic: https://freelymagazine.com/2019/03/29/to-hug-or-not-to-hug-physical-contacts-vary-across-cultures/
There’s also a tragic aspect to the low-contact culture. Episode 17 of Season 1 of the show Welcome to Wrexham actually explores this topic really well: https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/126929-welcome-to-wrexham/season/1/episode/17 (also just a great ⚽ documentary)
Thank you for those links, I sent you a message on Masta
