How a person handles space in dating others is an obvious and very sensitive indicator of how he or she feels about the other person. On a first date,if a woman sits or stands so sclose to a man that he is acutely conscious of her physical presence--inside the intimate-distance zone -the man usually construes it to mean that she is encouraging him. However, before the man starts moving in on the woman, he should be sure what message she's really sending European background may be neutral or distant to someone of Italian heritage. Also, women sometimes use space as a way of misleading a man, and there are few things that put men off more than women who communicate contradictory messages, such as women who cuddle up and then act insulted when a man takes the next step.