I saw three very pretty and well-attired girls on the métro on Monday (Line 6, Etoile-Nation), and I heard part of their conversation. At one point, they were discussing their preferred brands of nail polish. One of them casually picked up another one's fingers, held them up to look at her friend's nails, then let go of her hand.
This was perfectly natural. No one looking would have found this strange, or indicative of a potential same-sex attraction. But if two young men made a similar "intimate" gesture (let's assume they were not talking about nail polish, but they might compare their earrings, for example, and one would touch the other one's ear lobe to have a closer look), don't you think that people would find it uncommon? I think some people would wince, and many would certainly suspect them of being gay. Even gay people would probably think those two guys were gay, and some of them would be uncomfortable about such a gesture in public, even if they were gay themselves.
I am still a bit puzzled at the double standard. Is there something about our assumptions of how differently men and women interact, that causes us to have such different levels of interpretation and acceptance of similar gestures between the two sexes?
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