Just the other week while traveling overseas, I noticed quite a few displays of public affection towards family members. Boys and girls playing on, over and etc. around their fathers, the occasional display of affection by a family member in the form of a peck on the cheek, even perfunctory kiss on the mouth, and it occured to me how this is so rarely seen in the US. DP's own original BA pointed out a difference in cultures when it comes to displays of affection. BA reminded me of an observation I made last week, and brought back cross-cultural memories. In the US mainstream culture, it just isn't done. But, there is something larger then cultural differences in displays of affection. The reaction of the boyfriend to his fiances objections is what I find peculiar. A man so emotionally attuned to his sister, would no doubt understand the concerns of his fiancee instinctively and try to comfort her. He reacted in the opposite direction, by manufacturing a cause de guerre by suggesting that his fiancee doesn't like his sister. In the least, this is a display of inadequate conflict resolution skills, but in Inter's experience, it's the modus operandi of emotionally disturbed people, or in other words, the deflection tactic of a liar. Quite frankly, I think the guy is a head case. I too have a sister I was very close to growing up, but at puberty there's a gulf that develops when it comes to sensual interaction between the sexes. This gulf is bridged only by conscious evaluation and decision. This beau never seems to have reached that point. My advice to the fiancee is, fire and forget.

Maybe American dads don't show overt affection for their children in public because they are afraid that they might get accused of something sinister. A crime that in this country one is guilty of until proven innocent, and even then assumed to be guilty of. Perhaps dad's heard enough horror stories about what happens to men who are accused/convicted of such things in prison to figure maybe that kiss can wait til the family gets home.

are gay. What playful bonding and sharing of intimate secrets I've seen between siblings has usually been where one is gay. The sisters know what hell their brothers went through getting to adulthood, and they're both sensitive and touch-feely.

Plus, I like to posit homosexuality because it makes repressed gay people squimish and puts a feather in the caps of my gay friends.