Multicultural Manners : A Touching Gesture Explained

A widely seen wire service photo showed former enemies PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres holding--not shaking--hands after a meeting last May.

What does it mean?

In the United States, if two people of the same sex hold hands or place their arms around one another, some people interpret this as a sign of a homosexual relationship. However, in the Middle East, the Balkans, Latin America and Asia, when two men or two women hold hands, it is a sign of friendship. When Arafat and Peres held hands, it demonstrated that enmity had been set aside.

In most other parts of the world, one commonly sees two men or women walking down the street holding hands or with arms around each others’ waists. Nor is it unusual to find persons of the same sex sipping coffee in a cafe while holding hands. But these actions often shock Americans.

At the same time, people from the Balkans, Middle East and Asia are amazed when they first observe American men and women engaged in any physical contact in public. From their point of view, it is a sign of great disrespect, especially to women.

These reverse cultural signals cause confusion to immigrants from Asia and the Middle East, who are dumbfounded when they demonstrate what in their native countries is an act of friendship to have it read by Americans as homosexuality.