Gender Wars: The Mystery Behind The Smile

The other day as I was low key engaging in one of my favorite hobbies (Here’s a hint… it’s people watching) I overheard these two girls talking about, you guessed it, guys.

The first girl asks the second one, “Why do guys always think that when girls smile at them that it means we want them to come talk to us?” She then, as if on cue, turns to a guy that was passing by and smiles at him and says “Hi” He smiles back and says “Hi” and then keeps moving. She then turns back to the second friend and says “See??” They then walk off before I can hear how the rest of the conversation develops. ( And yeah, I have no idea how him smiling back at her proves her point either)

“People Watching”….Yeahhh

It’s funny that this happened because I’ve always found non verbal communication between guys and girls to be some of the most confusing, contradicting, and occasionally frustrating experiences to either witness or be apart of. Now obviously nothing communicates better than words that are actually spoken, but something has to be said about how easily actions can be misread between the two sexes.

Now me, I’m no fool. Over the years I’ve learned that it benefits my pride and ego to be cautious about anything regarding women and what they “appear” to be communicating, No matter how flirtatious it may seem, it could all be “harmless” depending on the girl in question. There’s nothing more “harmless” than a smile right? Wrong.

Traditionally, Men are the pursuers and women are the pursued, and women I do understand that guys take their roles to the extreme sometimes, looking or trying to create “signs” that aren’t even there. I also understand that this over aggressiveness is a key contributing factor as to why a lot of you are on edge whenever a guy decides to approach you about anything, however you also need to understand why we as men are such “opportunists.”

Since the unspoken laws of attraction seem to dictate that most people master the art of “playing hard to get” instead being relatively upfront with their feelings, it can be hard for a pursuer to know what exactly serves as a “sign” and what else is just being friendly. For example a smile can easily be anything from a polite gesture to a “come over and get my name and number” depending on the thought process behind that smile. In fact, when I ask girls what are some of the signs that you’d give to let a guy know that you’re interested, one of the most common answers is (surprise surprise) a SMILE. These are also the same girls who would say “Just because I smile at you doesn’t mean that I’m interested.”

But what do you all think? Are men as a whole a little to quick to interpret the simple things as a sign of invitation? Or are women as whole blurring the lines too much in terms of what is and isn’t a sign? Let me know in the comments below.

 

Couldn’t resist…

 

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