Non-Romantics Rejoice: Study Says Not Everyone Kisses

Never been kissed? You're in good company, says a new study in the journal American Anthropologist. Not everyone sees kissing as a romantic gesture, despite our impressions from pop culture. Who would have guessed?

Researchers from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and the Kinsey Institute at Indiana University collected and analyzed ethnographic studies dating back to the early 1900s and found that fewer than half of the world's cultures practice romantic mouth-to-mouth kissing. Only 46 percent of the world’s cultures partake in the activity, with the highest percentages found in the Middle East (100 percent of cultures), Asia (73 percent) and Europe (70 percent). Central America had the lowest percentages of romantic kissing cultures, as in … 0 percent.

Kissing as a romantic ritual has been ingrained in us from movies like "Never Been Kissed" and "Kissing Jessica Stein" and a barrage of pop songs and other pop-culture works. Heck, we've even named a style of kissing after a European country.

But it turns out it's more prominent in complex societies, researchers noted, which would suggest that kissing as a romantic activity happened later in human evolution. Study author Shelly L. Volsche told Quartz that the researchers hypothesize kissing might be present in more-evolved societies because there is more time for foreplay.

The researchers' goal was to show that kissing isn't a universal action, as some have suggested. Volsche pointed out that at times kissing could even been dangerous, due to the transmission of bacteria.

One caveat here: The research looked at studies conducted between the early 1900s and the present, using individual cultures as a measurement and counting each the same, even though some cultures have wider reach/influence than others.

Can't imagine life without kissing? If you're in one of the kissing cultures, grab a loved one and give them a smooch.