Photo: Paul Spinelli/Stringer(Getty Images)
The fact is that every person has heard a high schooler brag about his romantic conquest with the lines like “yeah, I totally went to second base with Michelle last you, you know it, ha-ha”: high fives his friend. Everyone’s heard it when they were in high school, or they were eavesdropping high schoolers to see how the newer generations have faltered, or at least in a movie. But since you Googled “what are the bases in dating” you must either be a non-US citizen or eight years old, in which case you should be quick as your older brother might get into the room and you’ll have to endure years of getting made fun of brutally for this search. And also, this is too adult for you, leave.
But in case you’re not from the North American continent or Japan and have the luck of not knowing anything about baseball, this terminology can be too confusing and you end up knowing only that something sexual happened between two people. Which isn’t enough.
Baseball is a deeply complicated game with a lot of “ifs” and “but ifs” so it cannot be explained in great detail here, nor is that why you are here for. But you need to know some rules of this sport so you can understand the metaphor. In the shortest terms, baseball is a game in which a person with the bat, called the batter, needs to hit the ball thrown at him by the opponent and then claim the bases spread around the pitch in succession. The three bases and the place where the batter is standing while hitting the ball (home plate) make for a rhomboid (see the picture), and the claiming is done by touching the bases which are represented by white squares.
So from the home plate, the batter needs to claim the first base first by touching it, then the second, then the third before the opponents do the same by getting the ball there. If the batter returns all the way to the home plate that is called a home-run, which is also a sexual metaphor we will get to later. That is only scraping the rules of baseball, which doesn’t look as complicated as it is, but it is enough for our needs.
So, getting bases are good, the higher the base you claim the closer you are to your goal of achieving a home-run.
What is First Base?
The starting point in the sport, the first glimpse of success, so logically it’s the most innocent of the romantic actions – kissing. More specifically French kissing, as pecks aren’t that noteworthy. Like in baseball, the first base is a good place to build upon.
What is Second Base
The step-up from kissing, but also a more vague term as it signals touching of the more interesting body parts like butt and boobs. Yet, for some second base is only when it’s skin to skin action, meaning bare boobs and under the jeans ass grab. You know, the stuff of which teenage dreams are made off.
What is Third Base
Also more ambiguous than the first base, the question what is 3rd base depends on how cool you are, so for you, it might be holding hands. But in all fairness, it basically just evolved as things constantly get amped up with newer generations. So third base used to mean touching of the private parts below the waist, and now a lot of people regard it as oral sex.
And with this terminology, logically, home-run means full sexual intercourse.
If you’re wondering why did you have to learn what are the bases in dating and why did the universal metaphor come down to baseball, well, just remember how the guy hitting the ball is called and you’ll get it.
