Hugging Candidates Embrace Affectionate Greetings

WASHINGTON, DC (WUSA) --- As each of the major party presidential candidates try to convince the electorate he embraces change, each is demonstrating with regularity that he embraces embracing. Barack Obama and John McCain are huggers, embracing both men and women. At Thursday's ceremonies at Ground Zero in New York, they hugged each other. At times, it seems a simple hand shake just won't do. Political candidates are not alone. Males hugging males seems to be an increasing trend.

American University Sociology Professor Celine-Marie Pascale says there are unwritten rules that guide the behavior. There should be no full body contact, she says. And men have methods of hugging that prevent that contact. It can start withy a handshake." And then that hand comes up and creates the body block or there is a lot of hitting going on behind. There is a way of being able to hug without making full body contact, " she said.

"Why does that rule exist?" asked 9News Now. "Homophobia. I think that there is an intimidating factor of being a little bit too intimate," Pascale replied. "A lot of cultural norms shifted with the rise of the internet industry, the tech industry in California in the 80's and 90's and there have been shifting norms for workplace behavior for men generally. The rise of metrosexuality, where men had more freedom to pay attention to their attire; there's been more general acceptance, I think, that feminism, as much as it broke down rules and restrictions for women, has broken down restrictions for men about how they relate to one another. So, I think generally we are becoming more comfortable with ourselves," Pascale said.