Shaking hands?

Question

If a man and a woman meet, they do not know each other very well.
Who should be the first one to reach the hand out for shaking, the man or the woman?
And how many times do you shake hands?

Answer 1

1st woman.it is basic rule of etiquete lol

Answer 2

http://www.k12.de.us/dover/bpa/BBE.html

According to the above "Basic Business Etiquette": One thing to note is that when being introduced in a business setting, the person of lower rank should extend the hand first.

According to the Kansas City Business journal, there are no rules when it comes to a business setting and gender, whether someone is being introduced or introducing him/herself.

And according to me (and not necessarily in keeping with any rules):

When it comes to personal rather than business situation, I'm not sure my approach would be approved by etiquette experts; but I don't extend my hand to anyone (!). Like someone else on here, maybe my age shows. Also, though, I'm not comfortable with shaking hands both because it doesn't seem "ladylike" and because I don't want to touch people's hands (germs-wise). (The "ladylike thing" isn't a sign that I'm old fashioned in general. It has nothing to do with anything other than the general appearance of "ladylike" - the way crossing one's ankles does as opposed to crossing the legs at the knees.)

If I meet a woman I don't extend my hand, and I may not even notice if she extends hers. If I notice I'll reciprocate. If I meet a man I would always wait (and pretty much hope he doesn't extend his hand). This way if he's someone who thinks its unladylike to shake hands he and I would be in sync about that; and I wouldn't do something he thinks is kind of "off". If he extends his hand then I'll reciprocate. Obviously, he's someone who thinks people should shake hands. I would never extend the hand because I don't believe in handshaking, think its stupid and phony, and would rather been considered rude and/or ignorant than unladylike.

Handshaking irks the heck out me and a lot of other people. Its a superficial, phony, gesture that a whole lot of people don't like because so many people don't want to be touching someone else's hand. It is the quickest way to catch the flu or some other thing. It should go the way of the powdered wig and the buffalo. I think if you can get away without shaking hands the number of times would obviously be zero.

Answer 3

I might be showing my age here, but when I was growing up, women rarely shook hands (they wore gloves, you know), but if shaking was going to happen, the woman usually initiated it, because women were not expected to shake hands, so the man would be in the wrong to extend his hand first. Things have probably changed now, but to this day, I (female) extend my hand first. Three or four shakes seems about right.

Answer 4

Probably the guy, and no more than two shakes. You don't want to be holding hands too long, and it ends the awkwardness in meeting someone instead of not shaking hands and saying "nice to meet you..." Shake hands, guy does it first to show that he wants to make you comfortable in the awkwardness of a first meeting.

Answer 5

i would say either one could stick out their hands to shake. if i were to choose one, the man should be the initiator. it is always impressive to have a woman have a nice firm handshake too by the way. i don't know what you mean exactly by how many times, but i would say for a few seconds. and if there's a few days in between your last meeting, if it's still a casual acquaintence i would say you could shake hands again.

Answer 6

I only shake hands when introduced to someone. Unless they reach a hand out to me, then I will shake it again, like when leave and say "...pleasure meeting you..." they reach the hand out again!

Answer 7

the guy reaches out first
u shake hands when u first meet and when u part

Answer 8

Shaking hand has nothing to do with sex, it is for the desire of the person to express willingness of friendship or a sensible meeting. We shake hands twice, when we met and when we depart.

Answer 9

Now days it doesn't matter. But if your worried about etiquette its most likely its the man's resposibility to shake the women's hand first. And two times.

Answer 10

In a business setting, I'd say either. In any other setting, assuming you aren't an ultra-equalitarian, it is the woman who offers her hand to the man, not the other way around.

Answer 11

The Man reach out 1st

2 times, one for greeting and 2nd one for saying goodbye