I've never been to Saudi Arabia. Jordan, Egypt, UAE...some Middle East countries, but not all (I tend to classify Egypt as "Middle East" rather than northern Africa). The reason I haven't been to Saudi Arabia is because it's one of the most oppressive countries to be female in. If not the most oppressive country. That whole "touching you and coming on to you" strikes me as strange. If he's born and raised into adulthood as a Saudi male, he likely hasn't had that much interaction with females outside of his family. So why he would be willing to touch someone he doesn't know well or isn't related to? Either he truly does have no clue and this is one of his first interactions with a western girl, or he views women more as property rather than actual human beings. Have fun with that.
Hm... a culture where it's normal for men to hold hands in public, women must be completely covered up, and is utterly obsessed with the idea of two men having sex. Yeah, pretty sure the whole Middle East is a bunch of [$100,000 fines].
Yes, I thought it was strange when I was told that men hold hands around and kiss as a greeting, but their culture is so oppressive towards women. I always associated physical affection with people you are romantically interested in. I grew up in a family that didn't give me many physical signs of affection, so it took me awhile to be able to share hugs and other platonic signs of affection with friends.
Because he knows what goes on in the mind of a man is why. Not that they all actively want to have sex with you, but every one of them would probably have sex with you if you gave them the opportunity. There are so few friendships where there is absolutely no attraction to either party.
I just think there's a big difference between "Yes, I would bang this person if presented the opportunity" and actively desiring to bang someone. The former seems like it would be perfectly possible for them to maintain friendships of the opposite gender.
I can kind of agree with you there. But just because that is true doesn't mean one person in the friendship actively wants to bang the other (like the passive aggressive guys who become friends in the hopes of one day having the opportunity to date the girl). *edit* Cowbell beat me to it.
I don't know of many straight, single guys who would go out of their way to be "friends" with a girl without the prospect or possibility (in their heads anyway) of hooking up. Why would a guy bother doing that?
Why would you go out of your way to be friends with a male? Put all those reasons on an individual with a vagina. I think it still makes sense.
If you're friends with a girl and can't answer yes when asked, "Would you sleep with her if the opportunity arose and nothing bad would happen afterwards?", she's probably ugly. No guy can say they aren't at the very least physically attracted to an attractive girl, but that doesn't mean they can't be friends.
So we could talk about the girls we want to fuck, etc. If a straight guy is prowling for chicks, te last thing he will do is waste his time with one he has zero sexual interest in. He hangs out with guys he has zero sexual interest in because its not about sexuality, it's about competition and camaraderie.
This is the truest say ever. I've had a girl for going on 8 years, and in this time I have had 3 really close female friends, all of who I would put it to if I were single. But, I wouldn't cheat on my girlfriend if given the opportunity to fuck these girls. There's a reason we are only friends, and why my girlfriend is my girlfriend.
Maybe that's why I have successfully maintained male friendships. I'm not girly, I don't gossip, I WILL talk objectively about the hotness of that chick you want to bang, and I like to talk about my poops and farts. I think that is the key to having a successful friendship with the opposite sex. Poop jokes!
I don't understand this attitude AT ALL. This might make me sound like I'm posturing and being self-righteous, but I don't go out of my way to be friends with girls. Or guys. I go out of my way to be friends with people, and, as far as I can tell, human decency is approximately evenly distributed between the genders. To me, asking why I would go "out of my way" to be friends with a woman is just a nonsensical question. It's like asking why I'd go out of my way to be friends with an Asian person (because my calculus homework won't do itself). Are you permanently "prowling for chicks"? Aren't you sometimes just hanging out, going to work, etc.? Also, if you're using that phrase, are you 14?
Don't get too high on yourself. For all you know the right circumstances might be twenty shots of Jack Daniels and a good helping of desperation.