6 Types Of Kisses: From Passion To Empty Air

A kiss. Only four letters but packed with multiple meanings. Even staying with the dictionary definition of a “caress with lips,” there are still several different types of kisses – from the most casual to the most passionate to the most intimate. I’ve separated out five categories of kisses.

1. Hand Shake Kiss

This kiss is a neutral way to say hello. There may or may not be any affection between the two people. A variation is the Air Kiss. Everyone recognizes this, when women lean into each other, opposite checks may or may not touch and then kiss – not the check – but the air.

Another variation is the Double Cheek Kiss. This is the European style of greeting someone with whom you have at least a minimum level of connection.

2. Cross-Generational Kiss

This is the affectionate kiss of parents, grandparents, and other relatives or close family friends when greeting young children.

A variation is the Baby Kiss, which can be noisy and often placed anywhere but on the mouth.

3. SWAK

As kids, do you remembering sealing your envelops with SWAK, “sealed with a kiss.” This was used when writing to the opposite sex, but many pre-teen children used it with each other, regardless of sex.

Another version of the SWAK is the Wedding Kiss. A marriage is sealed with the “I do” and the culminating kiss. This kiss is a public statement that the two people are committing themselves to each other. It is intense, passionate, but not meant to be sexually arousing.

4. Pseudo-Intimacy Kiss

This is a kiss of passion shared during the infatuation period of a new relationship. Kissing is the first step of a courtship. Then, if both partners are willing, the kiss leads to the next step on the path to lovemaking. The kiss reflects arousal that often is mistaken for emotional intimacy; it is a pseudo intimacy, though, because it comes from the physical excitement and the hopes and expectations of the new relationship, not from a deep intimacy that comes only with time and commitment.

5. Old Married Kiss

This is the saddest of the kisses. This is the kiss that has become a habit and has less meaning than even the handshake. It’s a kiss, sometimes used several times a day, saying hello or goodbye or good night. But, there is no significance in it. It has become part of a routine: get up, get dressed, get breakfast, get the kids ready, kiss spouse goodbye, start your day. Many couples report they even do the ritual goodbye kiss when they feel totally numb towards their partner.

On the other hand, this kiss can be very comforting in its routine physical contact.

6. Forgotten Kiss

Statistics confirm that couples together for many decades do continue to make love. It looks at how often and the rate of satisfaction. However, there is hardly any attention to the most intimate part of love making – the Kiss.

It’s been reported that women who do sex for pay will do whatever a man wants – with the one exception of a mouth to mouth kiss; sex is a business, kissing is intimate.

In my clinical practice with couples, women say a slow tender kiss of deep passion causes a quicker arousal than any other action during intercourse.

Yet, couples forget this after years of togetherness. They may spend time with foreplay, but they forget there is a foreplay to foreplay – the Kiss.

And, for menopausal women, I hear it is a particularly important part of arousal. Since there is no physical explanation for that, it probably is the emotional connection, the passion that lies within, despite the years of daily life. But, this is a kiss that should not be forgotten.