The Kiss Doesn’t Have The Romantic Roots We Previously Thought
Posted by: Annika Harris
Filed in:
news
12:40PM, Monday November 2nd 2009
We do it as greeting, to show our sexual attraction, or to demonstrate love, but how exactly did the kiss get its start? Scientists have previously argued that the kiss evolved as a way to judge fertility, health, and genes through saliva. However, British scientists from the University of Leeds and the University of Central Lancashire claim, in the journal Medical Hypotheses, that kissing actually developed as a way to spread a necessary germ.
The researchers say kissing allows the germ cytomegalovirus to pass from the man to the woman, so she can develop an immunity before becoming pregnant. The germ lives in the saliva and usually doesn’t cause any harm, but if transmitted during pregnancy, cytomegalovirus can kill unborn babies or cause birth defects like deafness and cerebral palsy. Female inoculation is best achieved through mouth-to-mouth contact with a taller man over a period of six months. As the relationship progresses and the kissing becomes more passionate than the first kiss, the woman’s resistance builds. And by the time she becomes pregnant, it’s less likely the baby will be infected by cytomegalovirus. These researchers say the previous reasons given for kissing can be judged by close physical proximity between a man and woman without getting as intimate as a kiss. [The Daily Mail via Impact Lab]
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tigerstripe
wrote on November 2 2009 @ 12:47 pm: [report]
Aww that’s a letdown. I always figured kissing just started because the lips are one of the most sensitive parts of the body and it feels nice.
bethlynn00
wrote on November 2 2009 @ 01:23 pm: [report]
Now CMV can be deadly for people with immune system disorders, like HIV/AIDS.
Gingee
wrote on November 2 2009 @ 01:28 pm: [report]
The fairy tale I heard was that kissing was invented as a way to see if the gal had been drinking.
But: If this is true, and this virus helps in preventing a conception, bring it on. I’ll take a double dose.
Gingee
retro chic
wrote on November 2 2009 @ 02:41 pm: [report]
Hmh. Hard science from the journal Medical Hypotheses? Way to bypass actual studies. Y’know, while hypothesis may fall in line with other tested evolutionary mating theories, this “kiss of death” one smacks of some “scientific” conservative scare-spin on why we should be monogamous, abstain or use BC (longer); and any other behavior is harmful to yours or your future babies’ health. Like the Leeds psychology (not medical)researchers also stated, the same info can be attained by people without the kiss. And what about the 10% of human cultures that don’t sexually kiss? Studies please.
clearbluesky
wrote on November 2 2009 @ 04:32 pm: [report]
Okay, I could follow that until the “taller man” part—why taller? Because spit follows the laws of gravity or what?