In tutoring students, many of whom are from the Middle East, I have noticed some cultural differences between Middle Easterners and Canadians. I do not think I would ever have learned this from newspaper or magazine articles, or from a book. This is the kind of thing that just comes up in conversation with people, one on one. What am I talking about specifically? On my Twitter page, I read a tweet from a young Canadian guy who said that he hates it when girls get jealous. And I immediately remembered that a few Arabs and Persians have told me that they love it when a girl gets jealous because it shows that they care about him.
In Canada, however, a lot of guys feel smothered by jealousy. They want to feel like they have a life of their own. They are not flattered by jealousy; they think it is an unhealthy emotion. Not all Canadians think one way on any subject, and not all people from the Middle East feel one way about an issue, but I can safely say that at least for many people of the different cultures, this difference in attitude does exist.
Some people make a joke of it, saying things like, “No one does better research than a girl who is jealous of her man.” The fact that someone would joke about it means they find it cute, I think. They are comfortable with the idea of a girl being jealous.
What do you think, is a jealous girl a good problem to have or a bad one?
