As in most neurological examinations, there was no reason to intrude on any part of the body ordinarily considered intimate, and of course i did not.  But soon i found out that any part of the body is intimate in the sense that it is protected by the customary barriers of interpersonal space.  There are cultures where these barriers are fewer or lighter than they are for us, and others where they are more numerous or severe.   But they are always definite and somehow are known to every person in the culture, if only subconsciously.  A violation of these strictures, subtle as it may seem, can dramatically transform the nature of a relationship resulting in embarrassment, in ostracism, in legal action, or even in homicide.  Anthropologists had discovered that diplomatic and business failures-for example in Japan or in Arab-may sometimes be traced to missteps in the frame of personal space.