Most people break down intimacy into two categories, physical and emotional. They only equate physical intimacy with sex and totally miss the connection that the physical can have on the emotional well-being of your partner as well as the difference that the emotional connection has on the physical intimacy with your partner. I was taught by my parents, in my youth, to open doors for women, to pull out their chair for them when sitting at a table etcetera. People equate this as teaching your children good manners. What they fail to realize is that the parents are teaching their children a simple form of intimacy as well as good manners. Good manners are a way of showing your partner that you care about them. If you look at any society that separates intimacy into the physical and emotional categories and the emphasis is on the emotional portion, you will be looking at a society that is male dominated and women are primarily there to serve. India, China, and Japan are the 3 largest cultures that come to mind with this approach to intimacy. Not to pick just on these cultures as it is common in the rest of the world as well. From my point of view intimacy can't be broken down or separated. You can't have the physical without the emotional otherwise it is just mechanical, and you can't have the emotional without the physical because then it is just friendship. Intimacy is truly the emotional feeling that you have just from touching your partner be it holding hands while you're walking together, having them sit with you and snuggle, or just knowing that they are in close enough proximity to you that if you wish to you can reach out and touch them. The emotional uplift from being just in physical contact with your partner and the emotional uplift also improves your physical well-being. I don't know how people can separate intimacy into just physical or just emotional. I know that for me it will always all encompassing in that you can't have one without the other.