[Holly Martins]

After waitress Amanda Bailey complained that
New Zealand PM John Key repeatedly pulled
her ponytail, Jackie Blue, the human rights
Commissioner in New Zealand, issued a
statement saying it was never acceptable to touch
someone without permission and added, “There
are no exceptions.”

So no more stolen kisses then?
You steal a kiss, end up in court.
To kiss without permission is assault,
A case of something precious being nicked.

I stole a kiss when I was ten,
And had some kisses stole from me,
Yet there was nothing missing I could see,
I never felt I’d had my pocket picked.

[Douglas G. Brown]

Oooooh, oooooh, Jackie Blue!
I will steal no kiss from you.

[John Whitworth]

How lovely, Holly. I never had the nerve to steal kisses. Cue for Charles Trenet's lovely song and Truffaut's lovely film.

[Holly Martins]

Nice one, Douglas, tho a trifle ungallant. If stolen kisses are banned, I don't see how the human race can possibly survive . If you have to ask for permission first, it kinda takes the fun out of it.

Thanks, John. Some of us have to steal kisses otherwise we wouldn't get any. What you say about Trenet and Truffaut.

[Gail White]

Reminds me of the old Irish song:

I'll tell me Ma when I get home,
The boys won't leave the girls alone.
They pulled my hair, they stole my comb,
But that's all right till I go home...

Times have changed.

[Julie Steiner]

I think what's changed is that women no longer feel quite so obliged to put up with unwelcome sexual attention, and say nothing, lest there be a Big Ugly Fuss in which the woman, not her aggressor, is deemed to be at fault.

The ex-mayor of my city certainly found the change a big shock:

The first misdemeanor took place on April 6 at a “Meet the Mayor” event. There, the complaint said, Mr. Filner met Jane Doe 2, who was there to discuss an issue, and Mr. Filner kissed her on the lips against her will.

“Is that true?” asked Robert J. Trentacosta, the presiding judge of Superior Court in San Diego.

“Yes, sir,” Mr. Filner responded, his hands folded in front of him as he stood before the court.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/16/us...ayor.html?_r=0

[Susan McLean]

I have to say that one's perspective on this varies depending on whether one is the kisser or the kissee. I can certainly remember several occasions in which unwanted kisses felt like a physical assault. Kissing is a rather personal activity and when someone unknown to you kisses you on the lips and forces his tongue into your mouth, that feels pretty invasive to me. Remember that women are usually smaller and not as strong as the men who are kissing them and consider how it might feel to be the woman.

Susan

[Roger Slater]

Nothing is missing when you steal a smack across another person's face either, but that hardly excuses it.

[Ann Drysdale]

Me, I'm still trying to decide whether this is a drill or an amusement...

[Adrian Fry]

Ann, if it's a drill, it's definitely invasive, not to mention actionable.