Evidence that heterosexuality is a western concept

"It should come as no surprise that these cultural differences can also affect patterns of intimacy. Passionate love is typically emphasized in individualistic cultures, but in collectivist cultures, passionate relationships are often viewed negatively because they may disrupt family traditions (Kim & Hatfield, 2004). For example, although Americans often equate love with happiness, the Chinese have equated love with sadness and jealousy (Shaver et al., 1992). This is because collectivist cultures, such as that of china or Japan, traditionally marry for reasons other than love. Passionate love dies and is not viewed as stable enough to base a marriage on. In a study of France, Japan and the United States, intimacy style was directly related to whether the culture was individualistic, collectivistic, or mixed (France) and also to how much the culture had adopted stereotypical views of gender roles (how much it tended to see men as assertive and women as nurturing: Ting-Toomey, 1991). The Japanese, with a collectivistic culture and highly stereotypical gender roles, had lower scores in measures of attachment and commitment and were less likely to value self-disclosure than the French or Americans (Kito, 2005). Americans also have stereotypical gender roles, but because of the highly individualistic culture in the United States, Americans tend to have high levels of confusion and ambivalence about relationships. Interestingly, the French, who have a culture with high individual motivation yet with a strong group orientation, and who also have a more balanced view of masculine and feminine gender roles, had the lowest degree of confliect in intimate relationships.
culture also affects one's sense of self. For example, in China people's sense of self is entirely translated through their relationships with others. "A male Chinese would consider himself a son, a brother, a husband, a father, but hardly himself. It seems as if ... there was very little independant self left for the Chinese" (Chu, 1985, quoted in Dion & Dion, 1988, p. 276). In China, love is thought of in terms of how a mate would be received by the family and community, not in terms of one's own sense of romance. Because of thsi, the Chinese have a more practical approach to love than do Americans (Sprecher & Toro-Morn, 2002).
Finally, a cross-cultural study of college students from Brazil, India, Philippines, Japan, Mexico, Australia, the United States, England, Hong Kong, Thailand, and Pakistan studied the perceived significance of love for the building of a marriage (we talk more about marriage in chapter 9). Researchers found that love is given highest importance in Westernized nations and the lowest importance in the less developed Asian nations (R.Levine et al;, 1995). Thus, culture plays a role in how we experience and express both love and intimacy."

'Sexuality Now: Embracing Diversity,' by Janell L. Carroll