But why do we kiss on the mouth?

Summer, the season of beach romances and family and romantic reunions. But why, and since when, do we kiss on the mouth?

Alain Bashung sang them with elegance in one of his last songs: “Did you know that kisses last? That when you bite your mouth, the taste comes back.” Kisses have been the embodiment of friendship and love since time immemorial. But the kiss on the mouth is of a much more intense symbolism.

We kiss all over the world

In the eyes of others, even before being a body and a mind, we are first a face. It is the face that is at the heart of our social appearance and our expression, both through our voice and through what our face says. This is also the first talent of babies: recognizing the faces of those close to them.

Anger, laughter, and love when it comes to passionate kissing. Or just greeting each other, in some local customs. Kissing has always been a tradition all over the world, although the earliest historical evidence of what we would call romantic kissing today dates back to the Bronze Age, around 3000 years before the Christian era. But kissing is a cultural practice that is widely shared around the world.

The hormones of happiness

Why kiss not just on the cheek, but on the mouth? The origin and reasons for this gesture remain basically poorly understood, with psychological explanations rubbing shoulders with cultural reflections. But it is above all a symbol of love. When lips touch, the whole mechanism of pleasure is triggered; activating nerve receptors and areas of the brain linked to pleasure as well as attachment.

Result: the release of neurotransmitters such as dopamine and oxytocin, the famous “happiness hormones”. In short, kissing on the lips, as we used to say in the past, is both a symbol of love, but also a vector of intimate attachment.. Without pleasure, there would probably be no kissing, but the reverse is also true.

An exchange of microbes

Added to this, in the eyes of some, is an unconscious, innate reason, in the eyes of some researchers: biology! Indeed, exchanging a kiss is also an unconscious transmission. Through our saliva as well as through contact, those who kiss not only share the beginnings of a more total intimacy, but also germs.

So, kissing on the mouth allows individuals to exchange microbes, and thus allow the immune systems of each to come into harmony. And if relations become even more intimate, which is highly probable after such a kiss, the woman’s immune system will be able to produce antibodies useful for the future survival of a baby. Sometimes, nature can be cunning…

What about animals?

Animals don’t kiss like humans do, but they show affection in different ways. For example, primates like chimpanzees and bonobos touch each other’s lips, which can resemble a human kiss. Dogs and cats show affection by licking, rubbing, or nuzzling their owners or each other. Birds like parrots groom each other to strengthen their social bonds. Horses gently nip each other to show affection.
Each species has its own specific behaviors to express affection and strengthen social bonds, although it doesn’t always look like human kisses. Affectionate gestures in animals are often linked to rituals of grooming, play, or close physical contact.

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