Making out is a term ofAmerican origin dating back to at least 1949,[1] and is used to refer tokissing, including extendedFrench kissing ornecking[2] (heavy kissing of the neck, and above),[3] or to acts ofnon-penetrative sex such asheavy petting ("intimate contact, just short of sexual intercourse"[2]).[3][4] Equivalent terms in other dialects include theBritish Englishgetting off and theHiberno-Englishshifting.[5] When performed in a stationary vehicle, it has been euphemistically referred to asparking,[6][7] coinciding with Americancar culture.
The sexual connotations of the phrase "make out" appear to have developed in the 1930s and 1940s from the phrase's other meaning: "to succeed". Originally, it meant "toseduce" or "to havesexual intercourse".[8]
"Petting" ("making out" orforeplay) was popularized in the 1920s, as youth culture challenged earlierVictorian era strictures on sexuality[9] with the rise in popularity of "petting parties".[10] At these parties, promiscuity became more commonplace, breaking from the traditions of monogamy orcourtship with their expectations of eventual marriage.[11] This was typical on college campuses, where young people "spent a great deal of unsupervised time in mixed company",[12][13][14] and theaters.[15]
In the 1950s,Life magazine depicted petting parties as "that famed and shocking institution of the '20s", and commenting on theKinsey Report, said that they have been "very much with us ever since".[16] In the Kinsey Report of 1950, there was an indicated increase inpremarital intercourse for the generation of the 1920s. Kinsey found that of women born before 1900, 14 percent acknowledged premarital sex before the age of 25, while those born after 1900 were two and a half times more likely (36 percent) to have premarital intercourse and experience an orgasm.[17]The Continental[citation needed]zeitgeist is illustrated by a letter thatSigmund Freud wrote toSándor Ferenczi in 1931, playfully admonishing him to stopkissing his patients; Freud warned him lest "a number of independent thinkers in matters of technique will say to themselves: Why stop at a kiss? Certainly one gets further when one adopts 'pawing' as well, which, after all, doesn't make a baby. And then bolder ones will come along who will go further, to peeping and showing – and soon we shall have accepted in the technique of analysis the whole repertoire ofdemi-viergerie and petting parties".[18]
In the years followingWorld War I,[19] necking and petting became accepted behavior in mainstream American culture as long as the partners weredating.[20] A 1956 study definednecking as "kissing and light caressing above the neck" andpetting as "more intimate contact with theerogenous zones, short of sexual intercourse".[2]Alfred Kinsey's definition ofpetting was "deliberately touching body parts above or below the waist", compared tonecking, which only involved general body contact.[21]
Making out is usually considered an expression of romantic affection orsexual attraction. An episode of making out is frequently referred to as a "make-out session" or simply "making out", depending on the speaker's vernacular.[22] It covers a wide range of sexual behavior,[23] and means different things to different age groups in different parts of the United States.[1] It typically refers tokissing,[3] including prolonged, passionate, open-mouth kissing (also known asFrench kissing), and intimate skin-to-skin contact.[1][3] The term can also refer to other forms offoreplay such as heavy petting (sometimes simply called petting),[3][4] which typically involves somegenital stimulation,[24] but usually not the direct act of penetrative sexual intercourse.[3][4][25]
The perceived significance of making out may be affected by the age and relative sexual experience of the participants. Teenagers sometimes playparty games in which making out is the main activity as an act of exploration. Games in this category includeseven minutes in heaven andspin the bottle.[26]
Teenagers may have hadsocial gatherings in which making out was the predominant event. In the United States, these events were referred to as "make-out parties" and may have been confined to a specific area, called the "make-out room".[27] These make-out parties were generally not regarded assex parties, though heavy petting may have been involved, depending on the group.
Among the city kids of 13 to 17 who live along the Boston, New York, Philadelphia string, "making out" is heavy petting.
Making out usually refers to kissing or passionate physical contact, but it also may escalate into petting.
The spirit of the petting party is light and frivolous. Its object is not marriage – only a momentary thrill. It completely gives the lie to those sweet, old phrases, "the only man" and "the only girl". For where there used to be only one girl there may be a score of them now.
"making out," which can comprise a rather wide variety of activities
"Making out," used in the title of this book is a colloquialism that can mean engaging in sexual intercourse, ...