Sex.co.nz

Guys like their kisses wetter and girls care more about the hygiene of their kissing partner’s teeth, according to a study published last year in Evolutionary Psychology.

Worst of all, the study shows that the first kiss is a deal-breaker: it will either give you a green light to continue or kill the attraction dead in its tracks.

A research team led by Gordon Gallup of the State University of New York surveyed over a thousand college students and found that kissing matters more than you might think.

Gallup explains, “At the moment of a kiss there’s a complicated exchange of information – everything from postural to tactile to chemical cues.”

A woman’s saliva provides clues about her fertility, while male saliva may make a woman more sexually receptive.

Kissing means different things to men and women.  Men tend to kiss as a prelude to sex, while women see kissing as a way to feel more bonded.

These differences between the sexes can cause friction.  For example, women tend to avoid kissing men that they think are only after sex.  After sex, however, women are more likely to want to kiss, while men tend to emotionally disengage.

So if you’re a guy, use this information to your advantage.  Maintain excellent oral hygiene, and avoid sticking your tongue down her throat on the first date.  Make an effort to kiss for kissing’s sake, rather than simply to arouse her.

And if she doesn’t call back after that first kiss, shrug and move on – you’re probably not compatible anyway.

Or, as the study puts it, “Perhaps kissing in these instances may activate evolved mechanisms that function to discourage reproduction among individuals who could be genetically incompatible.”