Body language expert Mark Bowden offered a detailed analysis of the viral hug shared between Erika Kirk and Vice President JD Vance at the Turning Point USA event at the University of Mississippi on October 29. The analysis, reported by OK! Magazine, suggested a “significant mismatch” in the intentions and expectations during the embrace, with high intimacy signals from Kirk and defusing gestures from Vance.
Erika Kirk’s Body Language
Bowden interpreted Erika Kirk’s actions as displaying a high level of emotionality and a move to establish dominance in the interaction:
- Head Tilt: Her head tilt upon meeting Vance was noted as potentially appearing “coquettish or flirtatious,” suggesting she was “excitedly anticipating this moment.”
- Outstretched Hands: Her hands were stretched out high as she approached, a gesture that tends to show a “high level of emotionality” and intent for a “passionate, emotional embrace.”
- Controlling Head Hold: The “highly significant” move of cradling Vance’s head and neck was flagged as an “attention-controlling move.”
- By holding his head, the expert said she “controls his line of sight and becomes the dominant actor in the embrace,” a move to potentially regain some control in a public setting.
JD Vance’s Body Language
In contrast, Bowden suggested the Vice President’s actions indicated a more guarded and controlling approach, aimed at breaking the intimacy:
- Hand Placement: Vance’s hands were “lower, coming out at around his hip height and aimed at her waist,” which Bowden called a more “controlling gesture.”
- However, placing hands on the “small to middle of her back” is a move “often reserved for more intimate relationships,” being “simultaneously supportive yet also highly intimate.”
- The “Double Tap”: Vance’s primary defusing action was the “double tap” on her back, a non-verbal cue that helped resolve the intimate nature of the hug.
- This is described as a “predominantly male-to-male ‘buddy’ gesture in U.S. culture” whose purpose is to “non-verbally reframe an interaction.”
- The double tap “serves to break the intimacy as it signals, ‘this embrace is not romantic or sexual,’ “ and helped end the interaction in a “non-aggressive” way.
- Ending the Embrace: Vance underlined the end of the hug by quickly moving her on to the side with a lingering hand, then turning to the audience and holding up his hands in a gesture that may be reminiscent of a “‘nothing to see here!'” stance.
Bowden concluded that while there were “romanticized” cues present, Vance’s actions, particularly the double tap, showed he was “clearing away any notion of romantic involvement.”