Dr Alverston Bailey, Contributor

Kissing is an integral part of human nature and more than 90 per cent of humans kiss.

We kiss each other to reveal affection, to portray deep love, to comfort, to greet, to bid farewell, to show homage and as part of religious rituals.

Evolutionary psychologists have posited the view that kissing is a learned phenomenon and have cited the behaviour of chimpanzees, who feed their young with premasticated food with puckered lips as evidence.

Others have proposed that kissing is an innate instinct and cite bonobo apes who use the kiss to comfort and bond with each other.

The historical origin of kissing remains obscure. It is described in Indian Sanskrit texts around 1500 BC and in the Kama Sutra in the sixth century AD.

The Romans were known to use the kiss in many of their social, religious and political rituals

Kissing styles

The type and intensity of the kiss are determined by the nature of the relationship between the receiver and the recipient.

❥ A peck or a smooch on the cheek or forehead is used to greet or comfort someone or to bid goodbye.

❥ Friends or casual acquaintances sometimes blow each other a kiss while touching cheeks.

❥ An Inuit (Eskimo) kiss is the term which describes nose touching.

❥ A butterfly kiss is one in which you flutter your eyelids against your partner's face.

❥ A dry kiss is one in which the couple press their lips firmly together as an expression of deep affection.

❥ A deep, wet or French kiss characterised by the sensual interplay of the tongue and lips is often shared by intimate partners as a sign of strong passion and a prelude to sexual intercourse.

Sensual kissing involves the use of the lips to titillate one's partner on various parts of the body to enhance arousal during foreplay.

Kissing Study

In 2007, United States psychologists Susan M. Hughes (Albright College, Reading, Pennsylvania), Marissa A. Harrison (Borough of Manhattan Community College, The City University of New York) and Gordon G. Gallup Jr (University at Albany, State University of New York) published in the journal Evolutionary Psychology (2007 5(3): 612-631) the results of a seminal study, Sex Differences in Romantic Kissing Among College Students: An Evolutionary Perspective, which surveyed 1,041 college students, most of them aged 18-25.

The study concluded that "romantic kissing may have evolved as a courtship strategy that functions as a mate-assessment technique, a means of initiating sexual arousal and receptivity, and a way of maintaining a bonded relationship" and that "the information conveyed by a kiss can have profound consequences for romantic relationships, and can even be a major factor in ending one".

Their findings regarding women are summarised below:

WOMEN

♥ Were less than half as likely to have sex with a man without first enjoying a kiss.

♥ Placed a greater emphasis on kissing for making mate assessments.

♥ Treat kissing as a means to induce bonding and to help her assess whether her partner has remained faithful and interested.

♥ Were less likely to encourage deep French kissing on a first date.

♥ Are more likely to base evaluations of their partner's kissing ability on chemical clues, i.e., the breath and taste.

♥ Were less likely to want to have sex with a 'bad kisser' .

♥ Were much more likely to kiss a partner after sex than men were.

♥ Continued to give kisses a high priority once a relationship was established.

MEN

Y More than 50 per cent of the men said they would have sex with someone without kissing.

Y Found kissing more erotic than women.

Y Regarded kissing as a prelude to sex.

Y Regarded a good kiss as one in which deep French kissing was allowed.

Y Were more likely to continue to want sex, even with a bad kisser.

Y Were less interested in kissing once a relationship was established.

Joys of Kissing

Kissing, whether a friendly peck on the cheek, a symbol of worship, an indicator of deep affection or an expression of intense passion, evokes a myriad of reactions - psychological, biological and social. It promotes bonding between humans.

The act itself releases a variety of pleasure hormones such as oxytocin, the cuddling hormone; dopamine, the pleasure hormone; serotonin, which elevates mood; adrenaline, which causes the dry mouth, sweaty palms, palpitations and the sexual flush; and endorphin, which produces a feeling of euphoria.

Word of Caution

Despite the obvious pleasure that one can experience with kissing, deep kissing does result in exchange of saliva and, therefore, exposes you to the risk of contracting a number of diseases such as herpes simplex virus (cold sores), infectious mononucleosis (the kissing disease), the common cold and others.

HIV transmission from kissing is unlikely unless one or both partners have an oral ulcer or bleeding gums.

Let me encourage you, therefore, to choose your partners carefully and practise safe sex so that you can truly experience the joys of kissing.

Dr Alverston Bailey is a medical doctor and immediate past president of the Medical Association of Jamaica. Send comments and questions to saturdaylife@gleanerjm.com or write to Talking Sex, The Gleaner Company, 7 North Street, Kingston.

Sources - Affairs of the Lips: Why We Kiss - Walter, Chip - Scientific American (January 31, 2008)- The Sex Book - Godson, Suzi- Evolutionary Psychology (2007 5(3): 612-631).