For those of you who need a lesson…
Pretty much anyone who’s ever had to wade through Coppers at 3am can say that they have been groped by hands that seem to belong to nobody and everybody all at once.
Luckily, some scientists from Oxford University and Aalto University Finland surveyed over a thousand people from several European countries in order to establish where it is appropriate to touch people depending on their relationship to you.
The areas shaded in black are the places that people think it’s the least okay to be touched, so the crotch and ass are unsurprisingly pretty much off-limits – though the rear-end is pretty strangely in play for friends, mothers and sisters.
Respondents of the survey don’t really want strangers touching them anywhere, with the whole body shaded a dark red.
So there you go, if you want to touch someone you’ve just met – go for the shoulder-to-hand area. If you want to touch someone you don’t know at all, maybe just don’t.
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ podcast – listen to the latest episode now!
