The Regions in The World that Couples Don't Kiss and Some Find is Disgusting

What's wrong with couple kissing? According to a new research, less than half of all societies use kissing to express sexual desire – and some even find the act repulsive.

The study found that out of 168 cultures from around the world, only 46 per cent of them kiss in the romantic sense. 

 

The new study, which appears in an article in American Anthropologist, focused on romantic kisses between couples.  Data suggests 15 cultures our of 33 studied in North America where kissing is not present. Romantic kissing takes place in in all Middle Eastern countries studies, but in Europe, three out of the 10 countries in the survey found kissing in a romantic scenario to be unacceptable. In Asia, 27 per cent, or 10 out of 27 countries, didn't kiss romantically.

 

'No ethnographer working with Sub-Saharan African, New Guinea, or Amazonian foragers or horticulturalists reported having witnessed any occasion in which their study populations engaged in a romantic–sexual kiss,' the researchers report.

 

'However, kissing appears to be nearly ubiquitous among 9 of the 11 foragers living in Circum-Arctic region (i northern Asia and North America).' 

According to the BBC, the Mehinaku tribe in Brazil reportedly said it was 'gross'  

 

The scientists also wanted to find out if there were anything different between cultures that do and don't kiss. They discovered that 'there is a direct relationship between the presence of kissing and the level of stratification within a society, with kissing present most frequently in complex societies.'

Read more:  

• BBC - Earth - Why do humans kiss each other when most animals don't?
• Is the Romantic–Sexual Kiss a Near Human Universal? - Jankowiak - 2015 - American Anthropologist - Wiley Online Library