If you live in the U.S., you probably know that wonderful moment when two besotted people press their faces together in a deep, soulful, open-mouthed kiss. But if you happen to live in some other part of the world, that practice might make you recoil.
There's a good medical reason for an aversion to romantic/sexual kissing in some places and cultures, according to ethnographers who collected data from 168 cultures and posted their findings in the journal American Anthropologist.
While a passionate lip lock communicates intimacy in some cultures, in others it's viewed as unpleasant, unclean or “simply unusual,” likely for biological reasons. The activity involves the exchange of pheromones, saliva and pathogens. That “might be particularly dangerous in societies without oral hygiene, where kissing may lead to the spread of respiratory or other illness,” explained study co-author Justin Garcia, a research scientist at Indiana University's Kinsey Institute.
Prolonged smooching was evident in fewer than half of the cultures the researchers studied. Romantic kissing was most prevalent in the Middle East. In North America, 55% of cultures engaged in it, compared with 70% in Europe and 73% in Asia. But people were not turned on to the concept in the Amazon region, Central America, New Guinea or sub-Saharan Africa.
Garcia said kissing serves as a way to find out “if there is any chemistry, or possibly to assess health via taste and smell.”
It might be easier, but not nearly as much fun, to simply ask the other person for a copy of his or her medical record.
