Instances in which I experienced cultural confrontation, were when I was told by several people in France that a friendly, polite smile to someone on the street could be viewed as flirtation and that consent was not as important of a concept in France as it is the U.S. It is not that the people who made me aware of this, necessarily shared that same belief, they were just explaining attitudes they had been exposed to. This was such a culture shock to me. I remember feeling distressed about these comments.
Eventually, a way I managed these types of situations and to de-stress, was first listen to why these attitudes might be present. Second, I went on to realize that while I cannot change a social attitude in an entire country, I can shed light on the importance of consent and have that talk with those around me. Educating your community on such a critical issue can encourage them to reflect on normalized behaviors in culture, and maybe one day children and teenagers can start learning about consent, respect and bodily autonomy when adults in their community have an awareness of how important it is. I believe something that happens quite often is, we can find ourselves distressed by certain social behaviors and attitudes, but we collectively do not think about how we can actually encourage healthy relationships and healthy community in the environment that we are in. Working through this experience of cultural confrontation, has equipped me with the tools to be more globally competent and aware.