Chapter six- Invitation to Insight, The Rules of Touch, Pg. 222

1. An adult and a 5-year old child= If the adult knows the child, then they are most always touching each other. The child wants comfort and to feel the adult next to them, to know that they are safe. They hold hands or the adult holds the child in his/her arms. It is not unusual if they are touching the entire time they are together. If the adult and child do not know each other, they don't usually touch each other. The adult might talk to the child but they won't touch each other because the child is scared and won't know the adult. I think this goes with both genders, male and female. 

2. An adult and a 12-year old= This relationship is a little different. They might not touch each other as much. Actually, they probably won't touch each other at all unless put in a situation where it is inevitable. If it is a mother and a son or daughter, then there will more likely be more touching but if it is a male with a male son, there won't be touching unless it is a male adult and a female daughter. Then they would touch more. It depends a lot on gender in this case. If there is a female daughter, the touching relationship between adult and child is stronger than if it is a male son and adult male or female.

3. Two good friends= Friends tend to touch each other a lot more. They aren't afraid to touch or be close to one another. Girls more than boys do this. If it is two male friends, they do not touch as much as if it was two female friends. Girls love to be touchy and feel the other person there than boys do. I think this kind of relationship goes back to what we learned about distances- social distance, personal distance, or public distance. 

4. Boss and employee= In this relationship between boss and employee, there might be a handshake because it is supposed to be a more professional atmosphere. Most of the time, it doesn't really matter if it is girl/boy. The boss, no matter what gender, usually gives handshakes to their employees and not much more than that. 

If I were just coming into this culture and didn't know about any of the gender and touching things, I would be so confused! There are so many "rules" that go along with touching and genders that I never thought about before. I would get very frustrated with this guidebook because there are so many different rules for what to do in different situations and with different people. It changes a lot of things that I never thought about until I wrote it out.