“I’ve had to explain lots of times to foreign friends that ‘silly cow’ can really be a term of endearment,” added the Oxford-based researcher and author of In the Netherlands, touching strangers, even just a friendly hand on the shoulder at a bar, is a big mistake.
Even though bottom-pinching is a thing of the past, women sitting on their own in a Rome café are likely to attract more than one rowdy .
Foreign women may find it hard to shake off their unwanted beau.
But come the weekend, Swedes, both men and women, let loose.
Don’t expect sophisticated romance, though, as it’s not unusual for an inebriated Swede to immediately ask the woman who has caught his eye if she wants to have sex.
Cantina, a woman from the United States who works in The Hague with three Dutch boyfriends under her belt, says that “in the Netherlands, you have eye contact and approach men. At home, you just stand there and they come to you.
Here, you have to be more aggressive,” says Cantina.
A sociological study by the Czech labor ministry finds that most people perceive sexual harassment as being “a concept artificially imported from abroad.
Conversations with hidden erotic meaning, provocative allusions, and even rude stories are all part of what makes the world go round,” the study concluded.
On the other hand, dating expert Jean-Baptiste Trannoy thinks subtle flirting is well-received by Swedes In Italy, men and women embrace with ease at each meeting.
As such, young Italian makes see foreign women as fair game; long, traditional courtships with Italian women frustrate these young men.
In Sweden, detecting signs of flirtation is a difficult task.