More Than JUST A Kiss

There is just some things you shouldn’t do, even if your rich, famous and just having fun.

Richard Gere is not a novice to international travel. As a movie star and activist for HIV/AIDS prevention, he has made many a port-of-call throughout the globe. Gere, a Buddhist, has visited India many times, partly for social issues but certainly to visit with the Dali Lama. If anyone should understand cultural sensitivity you’d think Gere would know. Obviously not.

Last week while in New Delhi promoting safe sex awareness, his Indian hostess was Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty (you might remember her for winning the Big Brother UK earlier this year, in the midst of controversy that she was the target of racial slurs). As Ms Shetty was introducing Gere he grabbed her hand and kissed it. Then, with horror and embarrassment, he gave Shilpa a big hug, then several kisses on the cheek, and finally, appallingly, dipped the stunned hostess backwards, still lavishing kisses on her.

Some Indians were highly offended, marching in the streets, burning effigies of Gere and demanding an apology for his offense. Not being sensitive to cultural mores was the charge – display of affection is not acceptable in this country (even in Bollywood movies they don’t kiss, though suggestive clothing, sexually explict dialogue and sensual dance is okay).

The next day, Ms Shetty told the press that it was no big deal, that Gere did in fact call to apologize and that it was “just a kiss.” Well, Shilpa is an international figure, knows the ways of the “other” world, but for many Gere’s action was not just a harmless kiss.

It seems that whenever someone from another country makes a cultural faux pas they often say, “Well, that’s just the way we do things in our country,” or “That is just our custom,” or, even worse, “People just need to get over it, that’s just the way we do things.”

I would dare say that most people reading this blog are not as rich or famous as Richard Gere. The consequences of improper behavior may cost you a client, your job and, in some places a fine, imprisonment and deportation. It may be just a hug or a kiss to you, but when you are in another country you play by their rules, not yours. That is JUST a fact.