Les réponses des deux côtés montrent une certaine forme de méfiance mais elle semble bien plus accentuée du côté américain. En général je ne pense pas que quelqu’un qui sourit à de mauvaises intentions mais ce n’est pas impossible. Je pense qu’il faut toujours rester un minimum méfiant mais qu’il ne faut pas rejeter le contact humain lorsque l’on vit en société. Est-ce que, aux Etats-Unis, la rue est un lieu récurent d’agression ?

Yes Damien, the street is a place of aggression, especially for women. People are catcalled, and its makes you uncomfortable and unsafe- it’s a form of harassment. Unfortunately this is very common, it has happened to me and most other women MANY times. Maybe there are less women in the ENSEIRB class than in the MIT class, that’s why there are more cautious answers on MIT’s side? Other than catcalling which is a more common form of aggression, other horrible things happen in the street and it’s just better to always be aware.

While most students on both sides would return with a smile or a hello, almost every single MIT student uses caution in their response. As Jasmin said, the street is a place of aggression, particularly if you are alone and/or a woman. It’s also very uncommon, as the first ENSEIRB comment states, for a stranger to approach you with a smile in a city, unless they are trying to sell you something or take something from you. Is smiling at strangers in a city more common and less suspicious, or do the ENSEIRB students just not blatantly mention their suspicions?

I’m surprised that hardly any of the responses from the ENSEIRB side mention caution or alertness. Is it that you simply do not feel scared or intimidated, or is the notion of reciprocating a polite gesture is more important? In the U. S., we see many news stories about people getting attacked and threatened on the streets. Particularly in the city, the streets are often very dangerous, and many women will not feel comfortable walking alone at night. While a simple smile may be a gesture of kindness, it is safer to be suspicious than be hurt.

If where I am from in Oklahoma can be considered a big city, I feel like over there it was more common for strangers to smile at you when you are out and about than near MIT, and over there I was less worried about it than I am over here. I wonder what the responses would be like if we polled people from big cities around the U. S., to see if location plays a factor in the how a smile from a stranger on the street is received.

For me (and I beleive for many other MIT students), my response to the stranger would depend heavily on his or her gender. If he’s a man (especially an older man), I’d be extremely cautious and try to avoid contact. If she’s a woman, I’d be much more likely to return a smile and engage. Additionally, I’d be more cautious if someone smiled at me at night versus during the day. As such, I wonder if the responses of any of the ENSEIRB students would vary depending on the gender and/or age of the stranger, as well as the time of day.

I agree with all the observations above. I also noticed that quite a few students from ENSEIRB would say “bonjour” or ask why the stranger why he/she is smiling back. I find it interesting that a simple smile would invite a conversation, is it just because of its rarity?

Adding to what Michael said, I feel like such a thing would be more common in larger cities in Tennessee compared to the Northeast. I’ve also never personally been catcalled, though I’ve had some interactions with strangers that were uncomfortable in other ways. I think in large cities in the US, not interacting much with people on the street is common because it’s considered courteous. Which is a self-perpetuating cycle, because then the people who do interact with you are breaking social convention already, and are probably more likely to be the sort of person who doesn’t notice they’re making you feel uncomfortable. In France, is not interacting with people on the street more of a convenience than a courtesy?

I agree with what Jasmin and Julia have said about the street being a place of aggression, especially towards women and other minority groups. As we can see, it is evident that the MIT students feel this way given they almost all said they would be pre cautious if someone smiled to them on the street. I am also curious to know how many female students are in the ENSEIRB classroom and to see if they also feel this way when walking on the street. Do you feel unsafe or insecure if walking alone down the street of a city?

I was interested to see that most people would return the smile, even on the MIT side where people were much more cautious. It is possible that we are just trying to be polite, but personally, depending on the time of day and the gender of the other person, I may smile back out of fear that if the smile is not reciprocated, the other person will react negatively and escalate the situation. I am curious to hear why students from ENSEIRB smile back and why they are seemingly much less suspicious of the stranger.

En France, il n’est pas si rare que ça de discuter succinctement ou même parfois plus avec des gens dans la rue ou à l’extérieur en général. Imaginons par exemple que tu regardes un paysage et qu’il y a des gens à côté de toi qui le font aussi. Alors peut-être que tu vas échanger quelques mots à ce sujet avec eux. Il y a aussi des agressions dans la rue en France. Mais quand même plus majoritairement la nuit. Mais je pense que c’est notre façon d’appréhender les choses qui définit notre comportement avec les autres. Personnellement, il m’est arrivé de nombreuses fois d’avoir des altercations dans la rue la nuit. Bien-sûr, c’est risqué mais je ne veux pas avoir peur et être méfiant à chaque instant et à chaque fois que je sors. Tout le temps être sur la défensive c’est perdre des occasions d’échanger avec les autres. Et c’est triste parce que c’est une richesse. Mais peut-être que la situation est bien plus compliquée dans les rues aux Etats-Unis.

I find Damien’s response interesting, because I agree with it in principle but still am usually quite cautious when on the street. Damien mentions that most disturbances he’s experienced on the street happen at night. I think that still holds true in the US, but I’ve also certainly had some notable uncomfortable situations in broad daylight too. It could be that, as Damien suggests, the situation in the US is more complicated, though it’s hard to guess exactly why. I think the suspicion arises from a fear that a rare encounter might escalate into violence. Maybe in France that association is less strong?

From my experience, if I am somewhere viewing something and someone nearby who is there for the same reason talks to me, I’m not apprehensive because at least we share one thing in common. If it is just a stranger approaching me on the street with a smile, I immediately feel as if they are duplicitous because why would they be smiling at me that widely.

I agree with Michael, I think that there’s a time and place for interacting with strangers. In your example, Damien, you are looking at something around other people. Interacting with strangers is normal in that case because there’s a reason for them to be talking to you. They may want to sell something, express concern about something, etc. For instance, when I’m walking down the street in a big city, people often ask me for directions, they say excuse me and ask their question. When you say that we may be missing out on rich opportunities to interact with others, I just disagree because I that a pleasant interaction doesn’t typically begin with a random big smile as you’re walking down the street.

Damien, I agree with your notion of openness to new experiences and new people being a generally good thing. I think the biggest difference between your opinion and the sentiment echoed in MIT’s responses (in the survey and in the comments) is that people are much more defensive due to things that DO happen on the street, in broad daylight in the US. One thing I can think of is that there are a lot of very aggressive men out there that feel entitled to people’s, many times women’s, attention and time.

I agree with Jasmin and Michael - I am much less suspicious of a stranger talking to me if we are gathered together for a certain purpose or event. In response to Damien, I noticed that you mentioned that most suspicious situations happen at night, and that’s certainly true for dangerous situations in the US as well. During the day though, I have experienced many people who smile at me and then ask me for something (like money), so I tend to attempt to avoid the situation entirely.

Si même marcher la journée aux Etats-Unis est dangereux et/ou vous fait peur dans ce cas là vous avez deux solutions. Soit vous restez enfermés chez vous (ce qui est bien triste quand même). Ou alors vous apprenez à vous défendre et commencez à vivre vos vies. Parce que sérieusement, courir vers le danger et bien entendu idiot, mais se laisser diriger par les autres c’est quand même bien triste … Il vaut mieux vivre dangereusement que ne pas vivre du tout …

Personnellement les gens qui m’ont abordé dans la rue avec un très grand sourire presque faux, sont des personnes sur le terrain pour faire des études, ou des ventes de produits, ou de service; et généralement ils vont te demander de répondre à une tonne de questions, ou de remplir formulaire long comme le bras, et qui va rapidement m’énerver.

Bonjour,

Je pense que si la personne nous sourit cela mérite de creuser afin de voir ce que la personne souhaite. Et puis de toute manière si la personne veut nous importuner elle le fera dans tout les cas. Ce serait dommage de passer à côté d’une bonne rencontre donc je pense que j’engagerais la conversation.

Bonjour,

Je pense que si la personne nous sourit cela mérite de creuser afin de voir ce que la personne souhaite. Et puis de toute manière si la personne veut nous importuner elle le fera dans tout les cas. Ce serait dommage de passer à côté d’une bonne rencontre donc je pense que j’engagerais la conversation.

Je pense qu’il faut aussi considérer la différence entre une grande ville aux Etats Unis et en France. En effet, je pense que plus une ville est grande plus on a de chance de tomber sur quelqu’un d’étrange/dangereux. En effet, par exemple pour une petite comparaison il n’y a que 200 000 habitants à Bordeaux et 600 000 a peu près a Oklahoma. Si Michael se pose la question de savoir si Oklahoma doit être considéré comme une grande ville, alors que pour nous Bordeaux en est une, ainsi je pense que cette différence d’échelle joue sur la différence de réponse.