A kiss is just a kiss, so button your lip
When considering the controversial smooch shared by Victoria Beckham and her daughter, context is key, writes Lara de Matos
|||LARA DE MATOS
lara.dematos@inl.co.za
@Lara_de_Matos
THERE are many advantages to stepping out of the country for a few weeks. For one, there’s the obvious “a change of scenery” shtick. And then there’s the complete oblivion that being off in some distant destination (where you don’t speak the language) brings… No endless negative news about yet another SA citizen being hijacked/raped/murdered, brazen corruption coupled with complete lack of unaccountability, the incessant race card that is continuously being drawn, or relentless broadcasts of how the world at large has pretty much lost the plot.
Okay, so we had to deal with terrorist bombs being detonated and an attempted military coup at our point of transit, but hey, every holiday has its hitches.
However, perhaps the biggest perk that comes with checking out of daily civilisation (your personal version thereof, at any rate), is not being privy to the petty occupations of our capricious, judgment-obsessed society.
Case in point: Victoria Beckham and that smooch. Nay, I speak not of some new steamy publicity shot with her and hubby, Golden Balls (aka David). Rather, I refer to the recent pic that Lady VB posted of her planting one on her mini-me, in honour of little Harper’s 5th birthday.
Innocuous enough, surely? We dare even deem it sweet. So why all the hoopla, you wonder? Well, for the benefit of those who don’t neurotically check their social media accounts every 10 seconds (what planet are you from?), the problem apparently lay in the fact Victoria wasn’t snapped chastely pecking her daughter on the cheek – as every respectable British woman should, you see.
Instead, she was happily kissing her daughter on her equally pouty lips. Oh, the scandal of it!
Like a lighting bolt launched from the hand of Zeus himself, naysayers came down on the mother of four for what they denounced as “inappropriate”, “suggestive” and just downright “weird” behaviour on her part. Because displays of physical affection for your child are “sexual”, don’t ya know?
For the record, I personally am not a fan of the lip-to-lip lock when it comes to family. Or friends, for that matter. Many an attempt from either to go in for my lipsum as a form of greeting has witnessed yours truly maniacally bobbing and weaving in a desperate ploy to avoid the smack of their saliva.
Perhaps it has more to do with the psychological, than the physiological, but to my mind, this is something strictly reserved for relationships of the romantic inclination. (Heck, even Pretty Woman prostitutes who sell sex for a living regard a smooch as more intimate than the act of coitus.)
That being said, as with all things, context is key. Victoria’s snap was a pure celebration of her love for her child. Those who define it as anything “other” should ask themselves what it is about their own perverted mindset that would view such an innocent act as erotic.
Be that as it may, those shrink “sit on my couch and tell me how you feel?’ types may not be completely kooky when it comes to the cut off age for kissing your kid on the mouth. After all, it’s not for nothing that our lips are ranked as one of the most erogenous parts of our body, so there comes a point when puckering up with your teenage or adult child might just seem… confusing.
It’s kinda akin to the whole “soap bubbles” debate: sharing a tub with your little ones when they’re still, well, little, is cute and cuddly. Doing so when they’re sporting breasts and pubic hair? Not so much.