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The future of handshaking
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2366-7044
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Verfassungsblog, 2020, OnlineOnly
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MANTHA-HOLLANDS, Ashley, ORGAD, Liav, The future of handshaking, Verfassungsblog, 2020, OnlineOnly - https://hdl.handle.net/1814/92673
Abstract
When asked about handshaking recently, the U.S.’s lead virologist Dr. Fauci said: ‘I don’t think we should ever shake hands again’, referring to how it would prevent both coronavirus and seasonal influenza. In Europe, where the topic of the handshake has been a landmine in recent years, this medical requirement can lead to a much-needed cultural shift. In 2010, an Algerian woman was denied citizenship in France for not shaking hands with the male official at the Préfecture de l’Isère. In 2016, a civil registrar in Brussels refused to marry a couple when the bride declined to shake his hand during the ceremony. In the Netherlands, an application for a bus-driver position was rejected in 2017 because the person refused to shake hands with female passengers and colleagues. And in Switzerland, refusing to shake hands led the city of Lausanne to reject a citizenship application in 2018. The city of Therwil, in the Canton of Basel-Landschaft, even imposed a fine of CHF 5,000 and social services on parents whose children refused to shake the hands of a female teacher in school. Simonetta Sommaruga, the current Swiss President (then, the Federal Minister of Justice) fiercely claimed that handshaking is “part of the Swiss culture”. The education authorities were more explicit—“a teacher has a right to demand a handshake”.
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Published online: 27 April 2020