Coquetry In Asia

The study set out to explore the coquetry making behavior in South Asia today.The word coquetry has originated from French coquetterie, coqueter (v.), and coquet. Coquetry is a social and sometimes sexual activity involving verbal or written communication as well as body language by one person to another, suggesting an interest in a deeper relationship with the other person. In South Asian cultures, it's socially disapproved. In order to assess the impact of new social and cultural trends in South Asia, it is essential to understand the more fundamental, instinctive aspects of the evolutionary 'roots' of our coquetry habits.

Coquetries are compliments with an infatuated or sexual expressive tone, usually said by men to women. The setting

This is the reality, but it is not the whole reality. The study suggests that there are two types of coquetry.

1. There is coquetry for fun – the sense conveyed by the dictionary definitions

2. 'Coquetry with intent', that is coquetry as part of the mate-selection and courtship process:

Coquetry is a basic instinct of human nature. We are genetically set to coquet. If we did not initiate contact and express interest in members of the opposite sex, we would not reproduce, and the human species would become extinct. Some evolutionary psychologists now argue that coquetry may even be the foundation of civilization as we know it. Our complex linguistic behavior, our superior intelligence, and our socio-cultural identity, distinguishes us from animals. In this context coquetry is comparable to the peacock's tail. Coquetry is a courtship device evolved to attract and retain sexual partners. If this reasoning and rationality is correct, coquetry is essential ability to charm. Coquetry users are the most skilful charmers because coquetry instinct is in our brains. The instinctive coquetry patterns follow universal designs and strategies. From London to America to South Asia, people use the same flirtatious body language. Human flirtation involves sequences of gestures and expressions more like the 'courtship dances' of birds and other animals. Typical features of the human flirtation sequence include the 'copulatory gaze',

Even in coquetry with intent, the manner is usually playful and teasing, not solemn and formal. In fact the partners do not engage in a thoughtful effort to weigh someone's appropriateness as a potential life partner. Even in coquetry with intent communicative partners exchange glances, smiles, jokes, compliments and touches. The initial stages of 'coquetry with intent' can thus look, to the bare eye, indistinguishable from 'coquetry for fun'. This similarity between the two communicative patterns can be a source of misperception and misunderstanding, most problematically when a bit of flirtatious banter is mistaken for something more serious. Coquetry, like every other 'instinctive' human activity, encompasses an element of social learning. Coquetry, in all cultures, is administered by a complex set of unwritten regulations of etiquette. These regulations prescribe where, when, with whom and in what manner one should use coquetry expressions. The communicators generally follow these unofficial laws automatically, without being conscious of doing so. The communicators only become aware of the rules when someone commits a breach of this etiquette by coquetting with the wrong person, perhaps, or at an inappropriate time or place. In some cultures, these coquetry regulations are more complex and subtle. The more complex and