What makes a a kiss worth dying for?

the kiss by ~czochanska

What makes a a kiss worth dying for?

Even animals do it – or appear too –  and in culture where kissing is taboo couples blow, lick, suck, or rub their partner’s face before enjoying the more intimate moments of love.

While 90% of cultures brush lips together it was not until 2007 that Susan Hughes, from Albright College in Pennsylvania, decided to ask what makes us weak at the knees.

The average guy and girl have kissed 14 people in their life. I guess that meant romantically. Only 20% have kissed more than 20.

It is no surprise that girls used kissing to assess guy as they as away to assess how they will  initiate, maintaining, and monitor the temperature of their love life. for guys its more about increasing the likelihood of bedroom fun.

In her study,  Sex Differences in Romantic Kissing Among College Students: An Evolutionary Perspective, Hughes had 1041 students answer one of three questionnaires about their kissing preferences, styles, attitudes and behaviors.

• About 50% of men would have sex without kissing their partner first; only 10% of women would do so.

• However, that would be more likely with a short-term partner rather than long term.

• Men want to kiss a girl with an attracitve face someone while women focus more on a guys teeth before deciding if they will kiss him.
• However, guys still liketo check out herfigure, weight and other enticing physical features.
• Women rated a person’s breath as more important when deciding to kiss or continue to kiss
• Kissing seems to be more important before sex and much less afterward.
• Both sexes thought a greater bond was created by kissing after sex with a long-term partner than a short-term partner.
• Overall, kissing is more important for women than for men for satisfying sex.
• 70.1% men thought kissing a romantic partner could end a fight but only 58.0% of girls.
• Men prefer wetter kisses with more tongue than do women.
• Women prefer wet kisses from long term partners, guys like wet kisses in long and short term relationshiops.
• Both sexes preferred tongue kissing with long-term partners.
• Men are more than twice as likely to have sex with a bad kisser than are women.
• 59% of men and 66% of women have been put off by a potential partner’s kiss at some point in their romantic lives.
• Girls were more jealous than males when their long-term partner kissed someone of the opposite sex on the lips or with their tongue.

So Why do we kiss?

There have been three main theories as to why we pucker up:

1. Kissing as a Mate Assessment Device
2. Kissing Induces Bonding
3. Kissing Increases Sexual Arousal and Receptivity

The research found evidence for all three ideas.

That women are fussier about kissing before sex suggests option 1. Previous research reminds us the obvious fact that girls wanted physical contact, hugging, and sensuous kissing.

“At the moment of a kiss, there is an exceedingly rich and complex exchange of postural, tactile, and chemical cues” note the study authors.  The subtle, at times obvious and even subliminal signals sent in a kiss reveal details of a man’s health and help a girl assess his level of commitment.

The research pointed to a previously a Gallup survey asked “Have you ever found yourself attracted to someone, only to discover after kissing them for the first time that you were no longer interested?”

59% of men and 66% of women answered yes.

An initial kiss can have a profound effect on the future of that relationship.

Perhaps kissing may activate evolved mechanisms that function to discourage reproduction among individuals who could be genetically incompatible, they said.

So what makes a good kiss?

For men a “good kiss” is when their partner lets them initiate tongue contact.

Since saliva and breath odor change across the menstrual cycle, exchanging saliva may provide subtle information about a female’s reproductive status, conclude the scientists. Men are less sensitive to detecting subtle chemical changes and may need more saliva to asses a woman.

It is also possible that wet kisses allow men to hormones or proteins into women’s mouths that may subtly influence her psychology. Men also perceive increased moisture when kissing as a sign she is more receptive to him.

While both sexes preferred more tongue contact kissing a long term lover this is also true when kissing for the first time someone intended for a short term fling, probably because it increases arousal.

But kissing also draws a couple closer, Kissing before love is more important for long term lovers.

Contrast that with the advice to woman of the night Vivian in Pretty women – never kiss a guy on the face. Otherwise you might fall for him.

However, this may be unconscious. Both sexes agreed kissing bonded a couple, yet intellectually they would not begin a long term relationship just because of a good kiss.

Women want kisses to induce bonding and are far less likely to kiss a guy they know is only after sex. It seems that men arelmore likely to kiss before but  demonstrate an emotional shift after sex.

However, men are more likely to kiss and make up to rebuild a bond after a fight.

The ability to kiss is an impotent ingredient of a “a good lover” for both men and women. Kissing styles that enhance salivary exchange are seen as a way to increase the arousal of a partner.

“Overall, women place a greater importance on kissing not only to make more judicious mate assessments,” concluded the study.”but for those in committed relationships kissing is used (wittingly or not) to update, monitor, and assess the status of their partner’s continuing commitment (or lack thereof) to the relationship”

“Males tend to employ romantic kissing as a means of increasing sexual receptivity and gaining sexual access, to affect conflict resolution, and to possibly monitor the fertility of his mate.”

Images: Perfect Harmony by *artsaves1228 and the kiss by ~czochanska