Is it right for a male politician to kiss subordinates on the cheeks while congratulating them?

[OnlinePoker]

I ask because I noticed Justin Trudeau does this all the time. He shakes men's hands, but with women he kisses both cheeks and often gives rubs up and down the arm. It doesn't seem like a correct thing to do in this day and age.

[samnsara]

1. i think thats a cultural thing...

..but i sure as hell wouldnt get offended if Justin kissed me on the cheek

[Vinca]

11. LOL - that was my first thought. Please . . . Justin . . . kiss me!

[jberryhill]

2. That's a normal gesture in several cultures

It's been formalized to more of "press cheeks and kiss the air", but pretty standard in French culture, of which a portion of Canada is an offshoot.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheek_kissing

[Chin music]

27. Indeed.

Europe is loaded w these types of welcomes and congratulations. I like that people do this. Not everything is a sexual assault.

[forthemiddle]

3. Even though I'm a strong, independent woman

I still enjoy being treated like a woman sometimes.
So as long it’s not done in a derogatory way, go ahead and open a door for me, kiss me on the cheek, or just be a gentleman.
It was done in a congratulatory way, and not at all sexual.

[lunatica]

4. Lots of countries have the cultural kissing on both cheeks behavior

It’s quite common. Men usually only kiss women but women kiss both men and women. In some countries, like Russia, men kiss men on both cheeks too.

[Srkdqltr]

5. The male politician should kiss only male subordinates .. on the cheek or wherever.

No the female. LOL

[leftynyc]

6. Perfectly normal in Europe (n/t)

[Arkansas Granny]

7. Different cultures, different customs.

Different times, as well, I suppose. In my day and age, it was not common for people to do as much touching and hugging as I notice these days. I'm rather surprised when I see people being introduced for the first time and they hug. To me, that is an intimate contact reserved for family members, intimate partners and close friends.

[spooky3]

14. The French have done this for many years. Women also

kiss other women on both cheeks as a greeting. Men occasionally kiss each other too—for example, see Herbert and Mahut (tennis doubles team) after an important win. But this seems more likely between good friends or a special occasion, whereas the other kissing is like a handshake is in the US.

[dalton99a]

21. Russian men used to do that a lot:

Stalin kisses pilot Vasily Molokov, 1937



Brezhnev kisses East German leader Erich Honecker, 1979



Gorbachev kisses Honecker, 1986



Soviet official Ivan Silayev kisses tennis champion Andrei Cherkasov, 1991

etc.

[spooky3]

22. Interesting--this is different in that they are kissing on the miuth

Versus s quick kiss on both cheeks (sometimes air kisses). I saw this two cheek greeting on HGTV last night—house hunters international was in Hungary.

[Croney]

8. I don't want to be kissed by anybody but family.

I understand it's cultural, and I acknowledge your hotness. Just shake my hand like you do with the men. I'm not your automatic kissee.

[Igel]

16. I'd say it depends.

Am I on their cultural turf or theirs?

Is the kisser on his cultural turf or usually there except for a side trip?

It's a question of whose cultural norms are going to triumph and condemn the other's. I tend to let geography handle that. When in "Russian space" I reduce my personal space, for example, and typically curse (and drink) more. If I saw myself acting that way in my "native" space I'd think less of myself; but if I act American around Russians I put myself at a cultural disadvantage and mark myself as an outsider. If I've been around them long enough to not be an outsider, the reasonable interpretation is that I don't want to be like them and look down at their culture because I'm superior.

I'm not a bearer of a "universal culture" with "universal values." I don't claim credit for creation, so that just makes me part of how things work.

[Croney]

19. You make some thoughtful points.

[OneBlueDotBama]

9. Bec or Bec Bec, p'tit bec

It's a French Canadian cultural thing, also popular in some Euro countries.

[Karadeniz]

10. Normal.

[Stinky The Clown]

12. Cultural. Canada reflects many European sensibilities.

It is perfectly normal in Europe.

[LuckyCharms]

13. I'm a straight male. I'd let him kiss me.

Then, I'd brag about it.

[True Dough]

26. Send your online dating profile to the Prime Minister's Office!

You just might have a chance to lure Justin away!

[912gdm]

15. cultural thing...

perfectly normal.

[MrsMatt]

17. Cultural thing.

I have a business colleague originally from France. He routinely greats women with a cheek press/kiss, but the men get a handshake.

It's a bit disconcerting the first time it happens, but you get used to it.

[Croney]

18. What about an observant Muslim woman?

Is she to be grabbed and kissed on both cheeks? I would think not. "It's ok because it's a cultural thing" can cover a multitude of man-kisses-woman-without-asking scenarios.

I guess this is a touchy subject for me. My husband is Canadian, and when I met his mother and four brothers, all five of them kissed me right on the lips! It was just how their family was. It took me a few years of dodging kisses before I just came out and told them it made me uncomfortable.

Gotta love those Canadians, eh!

[Cold War Spook]

20. We have Muslims in our town.

I don't talk to the women without an okay from their husbands. There aren't any orthodox Jews living here, but when I lived in Florida I did not talk to the women without an okay from their husbands. In both cases, I never tried to touch the women, I mean like shake their hands. In Turkey I would hold hands with my male friends when we went for a walk. In the South, I live in Eastern NC, there have times when meeting a woman for the first time, they hugged me. I am straight, but even in the Castro District of San Francisco I would walk with my male friends and hold hands. It has never bothered me.

[exboyfil]

29. That seems to reinforce cultural isolation for the women

If the women do not want to talk to you, then they should tell you. Of course if you want to avoid fights, then such action might be prudent.

As far as shaking hands, hold your hand out but not reach for the hand. Let the other party make the decision.

[milestogo]

23. As long as its not the butt cheeks.

[OnDoutside]

24. If you don't know the person, no, a handshake is the way to go. I've spent years of my working life

in France, and I think it's great the way they greet each other. In one office, as each person arrived in the morning, they'd go around to everyone in the office to shake hands or a kiss on both cheeks. Politics in America has to be different, especially considering what was done to Al Franken, you're leaving the door open to being accused by a RWNJ operative and then stabbed in the back by a colleague.

[karynnj]

25. I suspect it depends on the culture and I would bet that many of the politicians

may be cautious enough to pick up clues as to whether that would be welcome. By the way, I have seen the opposite - where it is the woman who initiates a kiss on the cheek.

It seemed more common in Europe than the US.

[Iggo]

28. Yes.

Next!

[Cousin Dupree]

30. Well let me ask you this. Is it ok for a Congressman (Devin Nunes) to plant his lips on

a President’s arse all the time? It doesn’t seem like a correct thing to do in this day and age.

[exboyfil]

31. I don't like huggers and kissers

Those are reserved for my family and very close friends.

[SuperCoolPoster]

32. yes

yes...why not? they do it normally in most countries...