Hand By Your Man

Jimbo writes:

Hey, Gin and Gentility!

I’ve got an oldie but a goodie for you.

I’ve been told that a man should never initiate a handshake with a woman, because its her choice whether or not she wants to have physical contact with you. Is that true? Because, like, if I waited for every woman I meet to extend her hand first, I’d never get anywhere.

And for the ladies, I guess I’ll ask this: Is there a nice way of saying you don’t want to shake someone’s hand, without making a face and jerking away like you’ve just been handed a bunch of cockroaches??

Thanks a bunch!

Jimbo

My dear Sir,

In times past, and still today in certain cultures which adopt a standard more moderate than our own, it was customary, as you said, for a lady to initiate contact with a gentleman and thus, to decide whether she wanted to allow the sweaty press of man-flesh against her own delicate palm.

Today, happily, women occupy and indeed dominate many spheres, from the bedroom to the boardroom and thus, are no longer quite the delicate hothouse flowers they once were, in times past. Indeed, we have even done away with the whalebone corset and the fainting couch!

I cannot see how a modern girl would shrink from the sight of a man sticking out his hand in public, seeing as how much customs are hardly taboo. Were a man to stick out some other part of his anatomy, it might be cause for comment—and one is hardly likely to do that, unless he is entirely inebriated and/or suffering from a closed head injury, amnesia, or alien abduction.

Stiffen up and be a man: stick your hand out. Trust me, Sir: the lady can take it.

Sincerely,

Louis Renault