Why Kiss? · 2:51pm Jul 10th, 2020
https://www.deviantart.com/joakaha/art/MLP-FIM-Lyra-And-Sweetie-Drops-Kissing-Live-556141616
I haven’t posted anything for a while. I do have some ideas, and have started writing bits and pieces, and I hope to get some blog posts about particle physics, and maybe even a story, out over the summer. However, right now there is a lot happening, and I am just feeling exhausted. So, I decided to get back into blog writing by addressing something else, which gave me an excuse to browse through images of ponies smooching.
Why do we kiss?
https://www.pxfuel.com/en/free-photo-qqogg
Kissers do not generally feel any need to justify their behaviour. Kissing is fun. If you really need a reason, a quick search for articles on the ‘science of kissing’ will give plenty of accounts pointing to research showing it triggers the release of hormones like oxytocin, making you feel happier and more confident, and helping you bond with your partner.
But this only half answers the question. The puzzle here is that there are far more obvious reasons not to kiss. Every time you exchange saliva with another individual you are putting your life on the line as you expose yourself to the risk of picking up a deadly infection. Of course, the same is true whenever you eat, drink, breathe, or have sex, but those activities play a role that is clearly linked to the survival of either you or your genes, while an explanation for kissing from an evolutionary perspective is not so obvious.
After reading a few not-entirely-satisfactory popular science articles, I decided to probe a bit deeper and see what I could find. Predictably enough, there is not a single simple answer. There are plausible hypotheses, but no convincing evidence to show which are correct. It does seem to be generally thought that there is a benefit to kissing, although it could just be an evolutionary throwback to an era when our ancestors fed one another by passing chewed food mouth-to-mouth.
One theory is that kissing gives the kisser a taste of a potential mate, letting you better judge whether they are a keeper before exchanging further body fluids. How good a kiss feels could be linked to the compatibility of their DNA. Studies have shown that we prefer the body odour (and are more likely to mate with) individuals with a different immune system to our own. This makes evolutionary sense as offspring with a more diverse immune system are better protected against infection. Another explanation is that kissing allows women to catch a virus from a partner at a time when it is mostly harmless, and thus inoculate themselves against a disease that could be serious during pregnancy.
https://www.deviantart.com/dm29/art/Smooching-101-471295967
Experimental results have been published showing that a ten-second intimate kiss involves a transfer of 80 million bacteria. Some are short-lived. Others “found a true niche on the tongue’s surface allowing long-term colonization”. While the harmful bacteria get more attention, many of them are beneficial. Your gut contains some 100 trillion bacteria. It’s an ecosystem of hundreds of species that have evolved to digest dietary fibre, turning it into something our body can absorb, and perform other functions. It has been suggested that kissing could play a role in keeping a good balance of microbiota.
We develop our gut microbiome during the first few years of life. Bacteria will colonise an infant, but exactly how they are transferred from their mother, or another host, is not yet fully understood. It probably happens by several channels. Maybe being kissable benefits babies by letting them acquire a healthy population of micro flora.
Stay safe everyone, and please respect the social distancing rules in your community.
This is the best blog.
Good question. I'm going to ask the wife this evening. She's a science teacher, and I think we can do some experimentation in this field. You know. For science.
Interesting; thanks for posting this. I'd heard some explanations before, but it's not something I've thought about much.
I feel like a lot of those are just random possible side-effects not really supported enough to make it the main reason. Honestly, my two cents are that we, being humans, will happily kiss someone else for that fun release of hormones and not really think about/ care about the potential consequences. It’s just kinda what we do. But I mean, hey, would not have ever thought about this without the blog, so great job man.
Now I read an article a few years ago about how mouth-to-mouth kissing as a romantic gesture is not culturally universal. In fact, a something-great aunt of mine (I get the greats confused with aunts) claimed to have never kissed her husband of 40-some-odd years, even though they had 4 kids. The two are not necessarily co-factors.
Not the article I was thinking of, but here's an article: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/hide-and-seek/201402/the-history-kissing
Of course this isn't how one kisses infants, and kisses on the cheek or forehead may occur even when mouth-to-mouth is not considered erotic. The article I'm originally thinking of suggested that the mouth as an erogenous zone was partly dependent on the oral hygeine of the culture, but provided only one data point on that.
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I heard somewhere that anthropologists reckon kissing is done by 90% of human cultures, which is sufficiently high that it suggests the driver is biology rather than culture, but the fact that it is not universal is also significant. Cultures that don't kiss on the lips usually do something else, like touching noses, which could allow the transfer of microbiota, albeit less efficiently. While kissing is done by most cultures, it is interesting that the social rules about who you kiss and how you do it vary enormously. If it is a fine balance between the benefits of exchanging good microbes against the risks of picking up bad ones, this could easily vary from place to place and time to time.
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Makes sense. The original article I'm recalling was from quite some time ago, hence why I couldn't find it easily. Likely outdated.
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Oh you
5305170 No, I'm not sharing.
I don't think "Kiss me 'cuz I need to poop better" is really going to work as a pickup line. :B
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That would be rather inviting the response “Kiss my arse”.
If kissing is a biological benefit (to get good bacteria), that’s better than other ways to get that bacteria.
I seem to recall coming across the idea that sharing bacteria with your loved ones makes your bacterial biomes similar, which makes your mate more attractive or something like that. I don’t remember exactly but it was something like that. I could go digging and see if I can find that article again.
Also, obligatory pony kisses:
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One paper I looked at says "clear correlations were observed between the similarity indices of the salivary microbiota of couples and self-reported kiss frequencies". But it didn't say anything about making your mate more attractive. Although I did read somewhere that it can turn frogs into handsome princes.
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Maybe that was it, maybe people like kissing other people who have similar mouth bacteria.
That kinda takes some of the romance out of it, though. Better find another picture of cute pony kisses.
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I somehow missed this post.
I am part of the Movement SexWorkers' Right:
¡DeCriminalize SexWork Now!
I have information which might be useful:
A myth exists that SexWorkers and clients do not kiss. SexWorkers generally do not kiss new clients, but , if they are friends, allow regulars to kiss. If she encourages you to kiss her, she considers you a friend.
This Pandemic has been hard on SexWorkers. 1 place where things are okay is New Zealand because Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Kate Laurell Ardern eliminated CommunitySpread of SARSCov2 because she is the bestest leader on Earth. SexWork resumed (New Zealand is a great place to be a woman with Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Kate Laurell Ardern, the 1st country to allow women to vote in 1893, and the 1st country to decriminalize prostitution in 2003) but kissing is off of the table, incase SARSCoV2 breaches BorderQuarantine (people entering the country have to go into quarantine for a fortnight an cannot leave quarantine unless they test negative for the RNA of SARSCov2 and do not have a fever) and both parties have to wear masks.