Kissing - where and when did it originate?

I read a historical novel set in feudal Japan and there is a comment about a geisha doing something she picked up from Westerners, that was thought of as quite odd by the main character - kissing on the mouth.

I knew that the Inuit did not kiss, but I thought this might have been because of their isolation, but apparently the practice was unheard of in many Asian cultures. This made me to wonder - does anyone know when and where the practice started? I know it made it to the Indian subcontinent some time ago, having read the Kama Sutra and it’s detailed advice on kissing, and it’s very common in the Middle East. What cultures did not kiss, or did not kiss until rather recently?

I can’t say who does and does not snog, but Desmond Morris once advanced a theory that kissing evolved from mothers chewing their food through for their children and then passing it to them mouth-to-mouth, a long time ago.

If that is the case the interesting question of why some cultures don’t do it poses itself; with the Inuit the weather would be a factor, but with Asian cultures?

The tissues of the mouth are more packed with nerve endings than any other part of the body. You feel more there. What better place to experience sensuousness (without taking your clothes off, I mean)?

The origin of kissing, which has been discuused before, has no set origin.

I would guess that a cave woman would chew food & dribble that into a childs mouth as the most likely origin.

The best kiss is the DeSade one.

From http://www.kissing.com/faqkiss.html

Anthropologists think the custom originated in the transfer of food from mother’s to baby’s mouths, a kind of lip contact that adults continued. But as I point out in other chapters on kissing from around the world, customs differ from culture to culture, and there are some places where kissing is really bizarre. Check out Harpers Magazine (Feb. 1996) for more on the origin of kissing.

From http://www.anatomy.usyd.edu.au/danny/anthropology/sci.anthropology/archive/november-1996/0188.html

The founder of human ethology, prof. Irenaeus Eibl-Eibesfeldt has found the
most plausible explanation of the origin of the kiss, I have ever seen:

In ‘primitive’ societies, where you cannot get canned baby-food, parents
chew the food for their babies and stuff it into the mouth of the baby
by mouth to mouth contact, pushing it with their tongue. This is called
kiss-feeding. This behavior pattern has evolved into a ritual of kissing the
baby, transferring only saliva. The function of this ritual is to show
affection rather than to feed.

In many animal species (including Homo Sapiens) mates give each other food
as part of the courtship ritual.

Adding these two observations, it is easy to imagine that our ancestors
millions of years ago have kiss-fed each other as part of their love-making
rituals. Nursing a baby is emotionally involving for parent as well as for
child. This positive emotion is transferred or ‘copied’ into the courtship
rituals by kissing the love-partner.

The etiological connection between baby-nursing and adult courtship behavior is
also reflected it the fact that many people call their lover ‘baby’.

Eibl-Eibesfeldt’s books have been translated into several languages. Look for
the titles ‘Love and hate’ (London 1971), and ‘Human Ethology’ (NY 1989).

Also see: http://battalion.tamu.edu/archives/99a/2-11/fp4.html

http://www.newswise.com/articles/2000/2/KISSING.TXM.html

http://www.gallery127.org/kissing/

http://www.wsu.edu:8001/vcwsu/commons/topics/culture/behaviors/kissing/kissing-essay.html

There is a Badtz Maru on the Somethingawful.com boards…
There is a Badtz Maru on the boards at theaskguys.com

Surely you haven’t pursued me even here?

What the heck is that? Do you bite the tongue of your partner or something? (or would it involve piercings?)

Speaking of which, my ‘sister’ recently got her tongue pierced when she was in New Zealand. Should be interesting for xmas…

I never bite the tongue off, just nibble a bit… :slight_smile:

I’ve been here as long as you. 8^)

Once a man told me that autoerotic asphyxia has the same “origin” as kissing: interruption of oxygen/blood supply makes sensations more acute…True?

Peace

Another word for kiss, is osculate, which should show up in the search here. A pretty word that. ‘Osculating’ = kissing

“What the heck is that? Do you bite the tongue of your partner or something? (or would it involve
piercings?)”

I was waiting for someone to take the bait.

The ‘DeSade kiss’ is when the man vomits into the woman’s mouth & then the woman returns it by vomitting into the man’s mouth.

Remind me never to date you, handy.

That definitely turns me off for the night. I don’t think I’ll be doing any five on one for a long while after hearing that one.

Geez, that’s even nastier than the snowball!

I have never done that! I swear! Who’s been talking smack about me?

Pipeliner, I don’t kiss like that…I was just using it as an artistic idea, although it is a DeSade kiss.

MarkyDeSade, you didn’t do that, you wrote about it. Why take such a great famous name & yet never read his books?

Speaking of which, has anyone seen that new Movie Quills? It’s apparently about de Sade and his writings. And, surprisingly, it isn’t in the adult section.

Quills was wonderful, but not very factual. Mostly, it seemed about a the turmoil over his book Justine. Not nearly as deSade-ish as one would hope, but still, very good movie IMO.

While your’e trying to discover the origin of kissing, I’ll be over here practicing the kiss on my Girlfriend. Hope your quest is as enjoyable as mine :slight_smile:

“I’ll be over here practicing the kiss on my
Girlfriend”

Try eating pizza beforehand.

I’d recommend a big plate of curry and a couple of bottles of red wine.

Re the DeSade kiss:

go into Consumtionjunction.com 's craxzy crap videos and look for “Japanese Creamed Corn”. Although I didn’t warn you, consider yourself warned.

jb