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Why Women Smile By Amy Cunningham

Decent Essays

Why do we smile? What is the purpose of it? At a first glance, these would appear to be very simple questions. Questions that you could answer almost immediately. Some would say, “Because we can.” or “To make other people happy.” In the essay Why Women Smile, Amy Cunningham defies the status-quo on this topic by bringing up the following points: women not only smile because we are happy or excited but also out of social obligation, we smile out of fear, nervousness, or being uncomfortable, and lastly that there are true genuine smiles. What truly “lies” behind the smile is something that is more nuanced than people expect. Something so simple as a smile is much more complex than what meets the eye. In America’s culture we view smiling as a positive friendly feeling, but in many other cultures it’s actually the opposite. We view smiling as a form of respect and use it as a tool to help us either build or to repair relationships. One example of a “non-smiling” culture is Japan. Japanese culture values humility and so they tend to suppress their emotions in order to help build relationships with people. Another “non-smiling” country is Russia. In Russia, smiling is reserved for close friends and so smiling at strangers is viewed as being insincere. Therefore, the question at hand is why is smiling something that is so important in our culture? According to Mrs. Cunningham (par. 12) “Women are expected to smile no matter where they line up on the social, cultural, or economic

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