Vampire got your neck?
I know undead bloodsuckers are the up-and-coming trend amongst many teenage girls and even some boys – but let's leave the vampires to the television screen and keep the red and purple bruises off our necks.
While foreplay before sex is even better than miso soup before a spicy tuna roll, it's easy to get carried away and let your partner get a little too into kissing your body. Although him sucking on your neck gives you a great sensation in the heat of the moment, looking into the mirror the next morning and realizing you look like you've been mauled by a gorilla definitely takes away from the pleasure.
While you're locking lips in your bed – or, if you're super classy, at the bar – it's fundamental to remember that once you wake up the next morning, you will spend three hours rubbing the bruise on your neck with a frozen spoon and then three more scraping your temporary neck tattoo up and down with a toothbrush.
I think the hickey phenomena ended when we were all in eighth grade. You know, when your parents asked what happened to your neck and you told them you burned yourself with your hair straightener.
So why are boys still leaving their marks on girls' necks and vice versa?
Not only do hickeys make you look like a slut, but they also turn off other people that you may be interested in. A hickey is an automatic trademark on your neck and even if you don't want it to be, it's a "taken" sign. No one is going to park his or her car in a spot that's clearly been reserved by someone else.
More than that, sometimes they hurt. What we consider to be hickeys, doctors consider to be bursting blood vessels under the skin. Hickeys should be treated equal to bruises, and they take as much time to heal, according to www.eHow.com.
Granted, mistakes happen. Too much alcohol is consumed and it "slips your mind" that he's actually leaving marks on your body. For this reason, I think two to three hickeys are acceptable throughout your college career.
If you show up to class or – even worse – your job with constant neck bruises, you're just openly telling people that you got it in last night. Nobody really wants to know about your sex life, and if they do, they'll ask about it on their own and don't need an everyday reminder that you're getting action.
You've all heard the phrase "never kiss and tell," so if you have the ability to keep your mouth shut, why let your neck do the talking?
Most of all, be safe, be smart, and keep it classy – don't let your professors and classmates know what you did last night.
Email: keren.baruch@ubspectrum.com
