Brannasnacht: The Kiss

In our continued quest to educate our readers, to appreciate your significant other a bit more of course, we will look at the history of ‘The Kiss’ and why it is so important (to women) and how you can impress your better half.

A kiss is the touching of one person’s lips to another place, which is used as an expression of affection, respect, greeting, farewell, good luck, romantic affection or sexual desire. The word comes from Old English cyssan “to kiss”, in turn from coss “a kiss”.

Anthropologists have not reached a consensus as to whether kissing is a learned or an instinctive behavior. Kissing may lead to sexual behaviors. It may be related to grooming behavior also seen between other animals, or arising as a result of mothers premasticating food for their children.

Kissing allows prospective mates to smell and taste each other’s pheromones for biological compatibility. Women are subconsciously more attracted to men whose major histocompatibility complex portion of their genome is different from their own, leading to offspring with resistance to a greater number of diseases due to heterosis, and thus having a better chance of survival.

Non-human primates also exhibit kissing behavior. Dogs, cats, birds and other animals display licking and grooming behavior among themselves, but also towards humans or other species. This is sometimes interpreted by observers as a type of kissing.

The anatomy of kissing

Kissing is a complex behavior that requires significant muscular coordination; a total of thirty-four facial muscles and 112 postural muscles are used during a kiss. The most important muscle involved is the orbicularis oris muscle, which is used to pucker the lips and informally known as the kissing muscle. The tongue can also be an extremely important part of the kiss (see French kiss). Lips have many nerve endings so they are sensitive to touch and bite.

Disease transmission

Diseases which may be transmitted via kissing include mononucleosis and herpes, in which the infectious organism is present in saliva. Research indicates that contraction of HIV via kissing is extremely unlikely, however a woman has been infected with HIV by kissing in 1997; both the woman and infected man had gum disease (so transmission was through the man’s blood, not saliva).

Kissing in Western culture

In modern Western culture, kissing is most commonly an expression of affection. Between people of close acquaintance, a reciprocal kiss often is offered as a greeting or farewell. This kind of kiss is typically made by brief contact of puckered lips to the skin of the cheek or no contact at all, and merely performed in the air near the cheek with the cheeks touching. People sometimes kiss children on the forehead or cheek to comfort them or show affection, and vice versa.

As an expression of romantic affection or sexual desire in Western culture, kissing involves two people pressing their lips together with an intensity of sexual feeling. A couple may open their mouths, suck on each other’s lips or move their tongues into each others’ mouths (see French kiss). Romantic or sexual kissing may also involve kissing various parts of another’s body (see Foreplay) such as the neck, the ears, the breasts, the navel, the genitals, etc.

In Eastern European countries and Slavic cultures until recent times, kissing between two men on the lips as a greeting or a farewell was not uncommon and not considered sexual.

Symbolic kissing is frequent in Western cultures. A kiss can be “blown” to another by kissing the fingertips and then blowing the fingertips in the direction of the recipient. This is used to convey affection, usually when parting or when the partners are physically distant but can view each other. Blown kisses are also used when a person wishes to convey affection to a large crowd or audience. In written correspondence a kiss has been represented by the letter ‘X’ since at least 1763. A stage or screen kiss may be performed by actually kissing, or faked by using the thumbs as a barrier for the lips and turning so the audience is unable to fully see the act.

Kissing in non-Western cultures

Some literatures suggest that a non-trivial percentage of humanity does not kiss.

In Sub Saharan African, Asiatic, Native American and Polynesian cultures, kissing was relatively unknown until introduced by European and Western influence. However, India’s practice of Kamasutra and advance sexual practices is an exception.

With the Andamanese, kissing was only used as a sign of affection towards children and had no sexual undertones.

Kissing in Muslim cultures is not widely accepted between two members of the opposite gender who are not married. However, it is appropriate in many to kiss someone of the same gender as a form of greeting.

A French kiss is a kiss, usually romantic or sexual in nature, in which one participant’s tongue touches the other’s tongue and usually enters his or her mouth.

It is also known as tongue kissing, pash, hooking up, busting slob, mugging it up, making-out, macking on, meeting, necking, getting into, snog, slipping the tongue, popping tongue, sucking face, swapping spit, deep kissing, getting off with, pulling, tongue wrestling, tonsil tennis, tonsil hockey, Frencher (Quebec) and frenching. An older name for ‘French kissing’ is cataglottis, from cata (down), glottis (throat). In French, it is simply embrasser avec la langue (literally, to kiss with the tongue) or the slang version rouler une pelle (to roll a shovel), or “rouler un patin” (to roll a skate (as in ice-skate, or roller-skate)).

French kissing stimulates the lips, tongue and mouth, which are all areas very sensitive to touch, and the practice is considered to be pleasurable, highly intimate, and sexually arousing. Unlike other forms of kissing (such as brief kisses in greeting or friendship), episodes of French kissing may often be prolonged, intense, and passionate. Because of its potential for arousing sexual feelings in bystanders (or outrage, amusement, derision, or disgust), ‘French kissing’ as a public display of affection is typically discouraged in most parts of the world.

Studying animal behavior, Thierry Lodé, an evolutionary biologist, argues that the French kiss has a real function: to explore the sexual partner’s immune system via the saliva. Initiating the sexual desire, the French kiss allows the partners to avoid inbreeding (see also sexual conflict).

The exchange of saliva in a French kiss may increase the chances of catching an orally transmitted disease such as Infectious mononucleosis.

Notable public ‘French kisses’ include the one shared between music icons Madonna and Britney Spears at MTV’s 20th annual Video Music Awards on August 28 2003 and the kiss shared between characters Redmond Barry (Ryan O’Neal) and Captain Grogan (Godfrey Quigley) in the Stanley Kubrick film Barry Lyndon (1975). In the 1994 Chinese movie Impetuous Fire, Chinese-American actor Tim Chang also had a passionate French kissing scene with actress Sandy Wu that drew a rave among Chinese viewers.

Cheek kissing is a ritual or social gesture to indicate friendship, perform a greeting, to confer congratulations, to comfort someone, or to show respect. It does not necessarily indicate sexual or romantic interest.

Cheek kissing is very common in Southern Europe, the Mediterranean, the Middle East and Latin America. It is not as common in Canada and United States, Asia, or most areas of Northern/Western Europe. However, there are some exceptions in North America, including ethnic neighborhoods, such as Italian or Hispanic neighborhoods, as well as Miami and Quebec.

Soviet and other eastern European communist leaders often greeted each other in this fashion on public and state occasions. Nowadays in Eastern Europe male-female and female-female cheek kissing is a very common greeting between friends, especially younger than 35 y.o. Male-male cheek kissing is rare.

Depending on the local culture, cheek kissing may be considered appropriate between a man and a woman, a parent and a child, two women, or two men. The latter is socially accepted in South Eastern Europe and in some countries of the South Western Europe and the Middle East, and in Europe generally it is becoming increasingly common especially among the young. It may however bring up associations with homosexuality in Asia, Latin America and the US. There is less fear of this in Europe where homosexuality is more widely accepted. In France kissing between male heterosexual friends is much more common but not between men who have just been introduced; a situation where two heterosexual women would probably kiss.

In a cheek kiss, both persons lean forward and either lightly touch cheek with cheek or lip with cheek. Generally the gesture is repeated with the other cheek, or more, alternating cheeks. Depending on country and situation the number of kisses is usually one, two, three or four. Hand-shaking or hugging may also take place.

Cheek-kissing is used in many cultures with slightly varying meaning and gesture. For example, cheek-kissing may or may not be associated with a hug. The appropriate social context for use can vary greatly from one country to the other, though the gesture might look similar.

The holy kiss is a traditional Christian greeting. The term comes from the New Testament, where it appears five times.

It is mentioned in:

• Romans 16.16a — “Greet one another with a holy kiss” (Greek: ἀσπάσασθε ἀλλήλους á¼?ν φιλήματι á¼?γίῳ).
• I Corinthians 16.20b — “Greet one another with a holy kiss” (Greek: ἀσπάσασθε ἀλλήλους á¼?ν φιλήματι á¼?γίῳ).
• II Corinthians 13.12a — “Greet one another with a holy kiss” (Greek: ἀσπάσασθε ἀλλήλους á¼?ν á¼?γίῳ φιλήματι).
• I Thessalonians 5.26 — “Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss” (Greek: ἀσπάσασθε τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς πάντας á¼?ν φιλήματι á¼?γίῳ).
• I Peter 5.14a — “Greet one another with a kiss of love” (Greek: ἀσπάσασθε ἀλλήλους á¼?ν φιλήματι ἀγάπης).

Superficially, there was nothing new in the practice of Christians greeting one another with a kiss: cheek kissing was the normal way that men in the ancient western Mediterranean would greet one another. However, the New Testament’s emphasis on its being a holy and love (agapÄ“) kiss meant that it quickly developed into something more than a greeting. The writings of the early church fathers mention the holy kiss as forming the introduction to the regular Sunday eucharist in the early church. Augustine, for example, speaks of it in one of his Easter Sermons:

In this way it still remains a part of the worship in traditional churches (Eastern Christianity, Roman Catholic Church and liturgical Protestant churches), where it is often called the kiss of peace or sign of peace, or simply peace or pax. In these churches, it is usually performed before the preparation of the altar for the eucharist.

Presently, the greeting is not normally shared as a kiss in English-speaking cultures, but by shaking hands or performing some other greeting gesture (such as an embrace) more in tune with the culture and time. In fact, handshaking, which can seem quite prosaic today, was popularised by Quakers as a sign of equality under God, rather than stratified system of etiquette of seventeenth century England.[citation needed] One could even say that the handshake greeting is also of biblical origin: it is mentioned in Galatians 2.9d: “They gave me and Barnabas their right hands of fellowship” (Greek: δεξὰς ἔδωκαν á¼?μοὶ καὶ ΒαÏ?ναβᾷ κοινωνίας).

In the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church the sign of peace, if used, is exchanged, not in connection with the placing on the altar of the bread and wine to be consecrated later, but shortly before Holy Communion. The instruction Redemptionis Sacramentum of 25 March 2004 explains: “According to the tradition of the Roman Rite, this practice does not have the connotation either of reconciliation or of a remission of sins, but instead signifies peace, communion and charity before the reception of the Most Holy Eucharist.”

The Latin term translated as “sign of peace” is simply pax (“peace”), not signum pacis (“sign of peace”) nor osculum pacis (“kiss of peace”). So the invitation by the deacon, or in his absence by the priest, “Let us offer each other the sign of peace”, is in Latin: Offerte vobis pacem (“Offer each other peace” or “Offer each other the peace”).

The manner prescribed is as follows: “It is appropriate that each one give the sign of peace only to those who are nearest and in a sober manner. The Priest may give the sign of peace to the ministers but always remains within the sanctuary, so as not to disturb the celebration. He does likewise if for a just reason he wishes to extend the sign of peace to some few of the faithful.”

Different Protestant, Reformed and Restorationist churches have readopted the holy kiss either metaphorically (in that members extend a pure, warm welcome that is referred to as a holy kiss) or literally (in that members kiss one another). This practice is particularly important among Mennonites.

In human sexuality, making out is a sexual euphemism of American origin dating back to at least 1949. It covers a wide range of sexual behaviors, and means different things to different age groups in different parts of the U.S. It typically involves kissing, including prolonged, passionate kissing (also known as French kissing), intimate contact, including heavy petting-that is, skin-to-skin contact, or other forms of foreplay. Making out is usually considered an expression of affection or sexual attraction to a current or prospective sexual partner. An episode of making out is frequently referred to as a make-out session.

The perceived significance of making out may be affected by the age and relative sexual experience of the participants. Teenagers sometimes play party games in which making out is the main activity as an act of exploration. Games in this category include Seven Minutes in Heaven and Spin the Bottle. Teenagers are also known to have social gatherings, referred to as “make-out parties”, in which making out is the predominant event. Sometimes these activities are confined to a specific section of a party, which may be termed the “make-out room.”

And that my dear friends, will conclude our object lesson for today again – see you next week!