Just a poll. Feel free to expand upon your answers however you see fit.
I had a conversation with a friend of mine on New Year’s Eve who professed that she never kisses on the first date. She’ll happily make out with someone in a “hook-up” capacity at a party or wherever if it’s not a date, and she says she loves kissing and has no problem doing it on the second date or beyond, but that even if she really wants to kiss someone on the first date, she’ll restrain herself until she sees the guy again.
I found this interesting, because my experience (and I’ve had way too much experience, sadly) has always been that the best first dates – the ones where the dynamic is comfortable, the banter is unforced and engaging, and the chemistry is almost electric – nearly always involve a kiss or kisses, often occurring in the medium-to-late stages of the date rather than at the very end.
A great date I had a couple of days ago reinforced this impression (although it looks like she might not actually be interested after all, another instance in a depressing pattern of romantic interactions that might merit its own thread at some point).
So I thought I’d throw the following questions out there to the masses; answer as many or as few as you’d like.
[ol]
[li]Age and gender[/li]
[li]Rough estimate of the number of first dates you’ve been on in your life[/li]
[li]How long it’s been since you were on a first date[/li]
[li]Whether you’re generally inclined to kiss on a first date[/li]
[li]Whether you’re inclined to kiss on a first date even if you have no interest in there being a second date (if yes, do you have to find the person attractive, or will you kiss for some other reason?)[/li]
[li]Tongue or not? What factors play into that?[/li]
[li]Whether you’ve ever done more than kiss on a first date[/li]
[li]Whether you’ve ever had a first date that lasted until the next morning[/li]
[li]If you’re currently in a relationship, whether you and your SO kissed on the first date[/li]
[li]Whether you typically initiate the first date kiss[/li]
[li]If you do typically initiate the first date kiss, do you ever do so before the two of you are on the doorstep/in the car/on the street saying goodbye? Under what circumstances? (same question the other way around if you don’t typically initiate – when are you amenable to a kiss that’s not a goodnight kiss?)[/li]
[li]If the other person tries to initiate a first date kiss and you’re not into it, what are your typical defensive maneuvers?[/li][/ol]
That should be enough questions.