The Love Bite That Stings
Show a hickey, lose a day’s pay. That’s the new policy at a Southland medical company that has banned those telltale marks of passion as unprofessional.
Why kiss off workers branded by love bites?
Colleagues and patients complained, the Brawley-based Clinicas de Salud Del Pueblo Inc. said.
“They were visible and no effort was made to cover them,” said Diana Tamez, personnel manager for the firm near the U.S.-Mexico border.
Hickeys long have been fodder for teen-age teasing, but even adults react, said Dr. Mark Goulston, assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at UCLA.
People who see the small marks could be distracted by big fantasies, Goulston said.
“The more it’s connected to sex, the more it triggers the thought of naked bodies and sex and contact,” he said.
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