Against Personal Space - A personal (but not too close) essay

Well, it's time to get a little bit of writing out here.
Just found this personal essay I wrote last year, and I thought I'd share it with you.
Hope you enjoy it!

Against Personal Space

Personal space is not just a notion that comes from common sense. It is so real and, apparently, so important to some cultures, that it has become an actual subject called proxemics. The term was introduced by anthropologist Edward T. Hall in the 60s to describe “the study of how man unconsciously structures microspace.”¹
I was not at all surprised to learn that Edward T. Hall is an American from Missouri. Where else would someone worry so much about personal space? It is so important in America that it is one of the main worries of foreign people who are coming to the USA. What is allowed? How big is the American bubble?
Websites try to explain it to puzzled foreigners.

Most Americans feel most comfortable when people keep an arms-length away during conversations. Personal distance, which is the space between colleagues during a normal conversation, is usually about 20 to 36 inches. If the person is not well known to us, we will stand from 2 to 4 feet away during a conversation.²

First of all, the rest of the world uses metrics. No one can really figure out what 36 inches or two feet are. And even if we could, what are we supposed to do? Measure the distance every time we see an American?
How close I stand when I talk to people usually causes Americans to take steps backwards on clumsy attempts to be discrete and not hurt my feelings. The fact that I am Latin American, combined with my genetic hearing impairment, causes me to come much closer than any American is comfortable with.
But distance is not my only problem. The personal space goes beyond there. What do you do when you are introduced to someone? In America, shake hands. In Brazil, kiss both cheeks. The cultural difference, of course, always causes me to offer my cheek first and quickly jump back as I offer my hand every time I meet an American. How do you greet people who come over for a visit? In Brazil, you hug them and kiss them. In America? Great question. I still don’t know. I awkwardly stand at the door smiling uncomfortably while I let people in or out, my arms hanging on my side, itching for a hug.
Now I am so Americanized that I reprimanded my boyfriend when, while saying goodbye to a friend of mine and her boyfriend, he blew the girl a kiss – completely normal in Brazil, but potentially problematic in the US.
I’m tired of it. How much can a kiss or a hug hurt, really? From now on, I don’t care about personal space anymore. Next time I see someone, I’m hugging them. Watch out.

1 - Hall, Edward T. 1963b. A System for the Notation of Proxemic Behavior. American Anthropologist 65:1003-1026.
2 - Judie Haynes at http://www.everythingesl.net/inservices/proxemics_elevator.php, accessed on February 24th 2009.