Korean "Skinship"... Real or Fake?

This week, I'm going to talk about something every student about to study abroad in Korea has read about that may or may not freak them out, and that topic is skinship.

The word skinship is a play on words that is a rough combination of skin and kinship. The idea behind this word is using touch (haptics) to express the depth of your relationship with someone. This is done in every culture, but in Korea, it's a bit different.

Here, skinship between a man and a women who are not in a serious relationship is highly frowned upon, but Koreans often want to show their love and affection to the friends, anyway. Skinship here is almost always between the same sex. Now, many other culture find this kind of interaction to be uncomfortable or homosexual, but that is just not the case here.

Here is a list of things that happen during skinship (mostly men, believe it or not!):

• Holding hands
• Hugging (from behind)
• Laying/Sitting in eachothers' laps
• Kissing on the cheek/forehead
• Touching of the shoulder/back/thigh and leaving your hand there
• Laying down together/cuddling

These are a few of the more extreme skinship examples. But why is it like that here???

My personal theory is that the idea of homosexuality "doesn't exist" here. It is something that Koreans often will deny exists here in this almost completely homogeneous society. Thus, when someone wants to hold your hand or kiss your cheek, it is completely for friendship, and not sexual in any way. It only strengthens the bond of friendship showing how loving and comfortable you two are together. Now, this is obviously not true. Korea has homosexuals just like any other country, but the intentions of skinship are almost completely all for friendship (and that's the truth);

What do I think about skinship? Well it was uncomfortable at first, but I (and my other international student friends) have become used to it. The sense of friendship is a lot stronger here than in the states, quicker. So yes, I do partake in skinship here in Korea, and everyone prety much is, unless they are uncomfortable with their sexuality or highly conservative.