Did you kiss your significant other this morning? In some cultures, your expression of affection would be met with confusion and disgust.
Researchers at the University of Nevada and Indiana University recently published a study in American Anthropologist that found our perception of romantic kissing being a cross-cultural universal expression is wrong.
The researchers studied 168 cultures over the past year, finding evidence of romantic kissing in only 46 percent of cultures studied. Romantic kissing was defined in the study as romantic-sexual kissing, lip-to-lip contact that may or may not be prolonged.
- 33 North American cultures were studied, wherein 18 (or 55 percent) showed evidence that kissing was a romantic expression, whereas 15 (or 45 percent) showed no evidence of the expression being used romantically or erotically.
- 16 Oceanic cultures were studied, wherein 7 (44 percent) showed evidence kissing was a romantic expression and 9 (56 percent) showed no evidence.
- All 10 Middle Eastern cultures studied showed evidence of kissing as a romantic and erotic expression. Conversely, all 10 Central American cultures studied showed no evidence that kissing is a practiced cultural expression of romance and eroticism.
- Of 21 South American cultures studied, only 4 (19 percent) showed signs that kissing is a romantic or erotic expression.
- 7 out of 10 (70 percent) European cultures and 27 out of 37 (73 percent) Asian cultures showed evidence that kissing is a romantic and erotic expression.
- 4 out of 31 (13 percent) African cultures studied showed evidence that kissing is a romantic or erotic expression.
In the study’s abstract, researchers state:
“Despite frequent depictions of kissing in a wide range of material culture, we found no evidence that the romantic–sexual kiss is a human universal or even a near universal. The romantic–sexual kiss was present in a minority of cultures sampled (46%). Moreover, there is a strong correlation between the frequency of the romantic–sexual kiss and a society’s relative social complexity: the more socially complex the culture, the higher frequency of romantic–sexual kissing.”
Past research has shone romantic-sexual kissing to be beneficial. Studies have come out that championed the expression as a means for choosing the right mate, for influencing genetic inheritances, and even helping people live longer. Even with the evidence that supports the social and wellness benefit of kissing, some cultures are turned off by the act, even going so far as calling it “gross.”
Why did we come to the assumption that romantic kissing is a universal cross-cultural expression? The answer may be ethnocentrism, the assumption that all cultures are just like ours.
Even though the kiss may be an evolutionary adaptation — an enjoyable and beneficial one, at that — it doesn’t appear to be a universal or cross-cultural one.
