To Hickey or Not to Hickey . . . That is the Question.

What's your opinion? When you see a married man or woman with a black and blue mark on his/her neck, do you think:

a) Cool! She must've had a lot of fun last night. Good for her!
b) Ooh, gross! She's too old to do stuff like that. Disgusting!
c) I wonder if she's going to lie and say she had an accident with her curling iron?
d) Is that legal?!

I've had many thoughts on this subject over the years. When I was a teenager and saw friends with hickeyed up necks, I'd think, "Ooh! She should've covered that up better! A turtleneck or some concealer would've been a good choice today. Her parents are going to find out what she was up to last night." I think most teenagers want their hickeys to be seen though. They wear hickeys like a love badge.

I must admit, I did have twinges of jealousy at moments as a teen. "Man, I wish someone liked me enough to suck the bejeebees out of my neck" . . . I knew hickeys weren't legal in my family, so I decided to wait till marriage for the long awaited coveted neck bruise.

I realized soon after marriage though, that people get uncomfortable when they see hickeys, even on married people. The bruised up necks are like car accidents -- you can't take your eyes off of them. Thus my question above . . . what are people REALLY thinking when they see a hickey on a married person's neck?

By the way, I am not asking this question because my neck is currently bruised. And don't give me any weird looks today when you see me out in the sunshine with a turtleneck on!

P.S. I read this quote recently in an article about "hickey giving techniques". I wanted to share one part of the article in case some of you out there are wondering where exactly to place a hickey.

"A hickey is caused by lips breaking blood vessels and that's easy to do on the sensitive neck. It's less easy to do, say, on the sole of someone's foot."

Can you imagine? "Hey, babe. I was wondering if you'd like me to bruise up the sole of your foot tonight?!"