<< Mouth Stimulation >>

The lips, the tongue, and the whole interior of the mouth constitute or could constitute for most individuals an erogenous area of nearly as great significance as the genitalia. Erotic arousal always involves the entire nervous system, and there appears to be some oral response whenever there is sexual arousal. We have already noted the apparently reflex connections between contractions of the genital, anal, nasal, and oral musculatures. Most uninhibited individuals become quite conscious of their oral responses, particularly if they accept deep kissing, mouth-breast contacts, or mouth-genital contacts as part of their sexual play.

The significance of the mouth depends, of course, upon the fact that all of its parts are richly supplied with nerves. This is true throughout the class Mammalia, and also true of some of the other vertebrates. Fish, lizards, many birds, and practically all of the mammalian species which have been studied are likely to place their mouths on some part of the partners body during pre-coital play or actual coitus. Mouth-to-mouth contacts between some of the birds and mammals may occasionally be continued for hours. The sexual significance of the mouth is obviously of long phylogenetic standing. The human animal testifies to its origin when it engages in mouth activity during sexual relationships. The human is exceptional among the mammals when it abstains from oral activities because of learned social proprieties, moral restraints, or exaggerated ideas of sanitation.
For data on oral activity also see: Yerkes 1929:296. Zuckerman 1932:123, 147, 227, 230. Yerkes and Elder 1936a:10-ll. Havelock Ellis 1936(1,2):85. Reed 1946ipassim. Beach in Hoch and Zubin 1949:55-62. Ford and Beach 1951:46-55.

      In the course of mammalian oral activity, the lips may be pressed against the mouth or against some other portion of the partner s body; tongues are brought into contact or used to lick the body; the lips and the teeth may nibble, or the teeth may bite more severely somewhere on the partners body. In some of the lower mammals (e.g., the mink) such biting may penetrate the skin of the partner, and while this is the means by which the males of these species hold the females in position for coitus, the immediate source of such behavior probably lies in the sensory satisfaction which the male secures by making these contacts.
Biting through the skin of the sexual partner’s neck is recorded for the mink, ferret, marten, and sable. See also: Ford and Beach 1951:58-59.
      Even such large animals as stallions, which are ill-equipped to make contacts with their mouths, keep their lips in constant motion during sexual activity and constantly attempt to nibble or bite over the surface of the body of the mare. In many mammalian species, where the tip of the nose may be as sensitive as the lips of the mouth, the lips and the nose are used indiscriminately to make contacts with all parts of the body.
Manipulation of the sexual partner's body with the nose and lips has occurred among nearly all of the species of mammals which we have observed ( see p. 229). See also: Stone 1922 (rat). Louttit 1927 (guinea pig). Shadle 1946 ( porcupine ). Reed 1946 ( various mammals ).
      All of these things also happen during sexual activity in an uninhibited human animal.

It is not surprising that the two areas of the body which are most sensitive erotically, namely the mouth and the genitalia, should frequently be brought into direct contact. The high incidence of such mouth-genital contacts in all species of mammals, from one to the other end of the class Mammalia, and the high frequency of mouth-genital contacts in the human animal have been detailed.

Simple Kissing
Petting usually starts with general body contacts, and with kissing. General body contacts, hugging, and simple kissing are the usual first approaches in petting, and the individual who has not had previous experience may go no further than that. In actuality, as American custom goes, genital stimulation is most often utilized, but mouth stimulation is involved to at least some degree among a considerable portion of the males and, to a somewhat lesser degree, among the females in the population. That the full possibilities of deep mouth and tongue stimulation are not more often utilized, is a measure of the extent to which the cultural restraints have modified human sexual behavior.

In our sample nearly one hundred per cent of the females who had done any petting had included simple kissing in that experience. There were essentially no differences among the several generations represented in the sample. A few had been so conditioned against oral activities of any sort that they had not allowed kissing, even though they permitted some other types of contact. Simple kissing may bring erotic arousal, especially if pressure is involved in the lip contacts and the activity is prolonged. Some of the arousal may be ascribed to psychologic elements in the situation. For some females, simple kissing rarely or never effects arousal.
Simple kissing and deep kissing are, of course, noted in most of the literature. The references cover kissing which occurs in petting that does not lead to coitus, and kissing in connection with pre-marital or marital coitus. See: Anon. 1707:6 (‘‘a tonguing kiss”). Robie 1925:107. Davis 1929:60. Hamilton 1929: 174, 177, 216. Van de Velde 1930:152-161. Dickinson and Beam 1931:66. Dickinson and Beam 1934:135. Stone and Stone 1937:222; 1952:182-183. Landis et al. 1940:290. Hutton 1942:96. Chesser 1947:130. Kelly in Fishbein and Burgess 1947:94. Brown and Kempton 1950:219. Ehrmann 1952 (of 263 female college students, 97 per cent incidence).

While kissing under any circumstances is more or less taboo for some individuals of the lower social levels, it is the most widely distributed form of contact among males and females of the high school and college levels. In these groups it may occur among casual acquaintances who are having their first date. So common is kissing at this level that it has relatively little sexual significance unless it becomes specifically elaborated.

Many persons in the upper levels consider a certain amount of oral eroticism as natural, desirable, and a fundamental part of love making. Simple lip kissing is so commonly accepted that it has a minimum of erotic significance at this level. The college male may expect to kiss his date the first time they go out together. Most college students understand there will be good night kisses as soon as their dating becomes regular. Many a college male will have kissed dozens of girls, although he has had intercourse with none of them.

At upper social levels lip kissing is an almost invariable concomitant (in 99.6%) of heterosexual relations (Table 93). At this level, there is a considerable amount of kissing as a show of affection between spouses throughout the day’s activities, and it is inevitable that the kissing should be still further extended in actual sexual relations. Kissing is involved both as an element in the pre-coital play, and as an accompaniment to actual coitus.

On the other hand, the lower level male is likely to have had intercourse with hundreds of girls, but he may have kissed few of them. At lower social levels taboos on all oral contacts are much stronger, and even simple lip kissing is reduced to a minimum. While it does occur in many (96%) of the lower level histories (Table 93), it is usually limited in amount. What kissing he has done has involved simple lip contacts, for he is likely to have a considerable distaste for the deep kiss which is fairly common in upper level histories.

Deep Kissing
Simple lip kissing may be extended into a deep kiss. This is also known as soul kissing, tongue kissing, or French kissing (a French kiss or soul kiss, in the college parlance).

It may involve more or less extensive and considerable tongue-to-tongue contacts, lip and tongue sucking, tongue contacts with the inner surfaces of the lips and with the teeth, a considerable stimulation and deep tongue extended explorations of the interior of the partner's mouth by the other individual’s tongue; contacts with the inner surfaces of the lips of the partner, contacts of the inner lips, and the nipping and gentle biting of the tongue and the lips. Such behavior is, as noted before, a regular concomitant of coital activity among many of the vertebrates, and particularly from the reptiles, down through the birds and among the mammals, such tongue and mouth contacts are common concomitants of other sexual activities (Beach 1947, and original observations which we have). For the other vertebrates, tongue contacts are definitely erotic, and they are naturally so for the human animal that is not too inhibited by its esthetic and cultural backgrounds. Although all of these techniques may be found among lower mammals, the human female or male may elaborate them beyond the point to which the other species go. Because of the abundant nerve supply in the lips, the tongue, and the interior of the mouth, the stimulation of these areas may be very effective, and orgasm occasionally results from such deep kissing, even though no genital contact is involved.

Deep kissing is utilized as a prime source of erotic arousal by many persons in the better educated and top social levels. In the human mammal, at the upper level, oral eroticism may still be considered a bit sophisticated, but deep kissing is in the experience of 87 per cent of the group (Table 93). Its sanitary implications seem no obstacle to its acceptance. This group accepts mouth contacts in its erotic play, although it objects to the use of a common drinking glass. Deep kissing may effect orgasm, even though no other physical contacts are involved. Deep kissing is utilized as a prime source of erotic arousal by many persons in the better educated and top social levels.

Deep kissing, which may involve contacts of the inner lips, tongue contacts, and the stimulation of the interior of the partner’s mouth, is a frequent element (in 87%) of the pre-coital contacts at upper levels; but only a smaller portion (55%) of the lower social level engages in such activities (Table 93). Among less restrained couples deep kissing is a simultaneous accompaniment of actual coitus, especially at the moment of orgasm. In such groups mouth eroticism is developed to a considerable degree, and it may be fully as significant as the actual union of genitalia, or even more significant in effecting arousal to the point of climax.

On the other hand, the lower level male considers such oral contacts to be dirty, filthy, and a source of disease, although he may drink from a common cup which hangs in the water pail, and he may utilize common utensils in eating and drinking. Obviously, the arguments, at both levels, have nothing to do with the real issues. They are rationalizations of mores which place taboos upon mouth contacts for reasons which only the student of custom can explain. Once again, it is the upper level which first reverted, through a considerable sophistication, to behavior which is biologically natural and basic.

Deep kissing was in the petting experience of approximately 70 per cent of the females in the sample who had not had pre-marital coitus (Table 73f). The incidences, however, rose with increased coital experience, and deep kissing was in the histories of something between 80 and 93 per cent of those who had had coitus before marriage. There were some differences between the educational levels on this point. For instance, among those who had had coitus some twenty-five times or more, deep kissing occurred in 83 per cent of the high school sample, and in 98 per cent of the graduate sample. As we have previously found for the male, there is a greater acceptance of the socially more taboo petting techniques in the better educated groups of females. Some individuals who are inhibited and unwilling to accept such techniques at the beginning of a sexual contact may lose their inhibitions and engage in deep kissing after they have become sufficiently aroused erotically.

There were marked differences in the acceptance of deep kissing among the several generations in the sample. Among the females who had not had pre-marital coitus, those who were born before 1900 had done deep kissing in only 44 per cent of the cases, while those who were born in 1910 or later had had such experience in 74 per cent of the cases (Table 73f). Among those whose coital experience totaled more than twenty-five times, 82 per cent of the older group had done deep kissing, as compared with 90 per cent of the younger generation.

Deep kissing, mouth-breast, and mouth-genital contacts were the most taboo of the petting techniques among older generations. Such taboos were sometimes rationalized on hygienic bases. The younger generation, ignoring the theoretic hygiene, more often accepts oral techniques—without any dire effects on their health.

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