People vary considerably in the potential erogenous zones they find to be most sensitive. Some people like to have their neck stroked or kissed, an experience that conveys great pleasure and sexual excitement. Others enjoy having their fingers and/or toes nibbled or sucked.

Kissing as Foreplay
Many people find kissing to be the fundamental act of foreplay. Kissing involves a range of behaviors from very light lip-to-lip contact, to what is often referred to as "deep" or French kissing, in which partners rub their tongues against each other and over other mouth surfaces.

Generally, kissing is considered to be an extremely intimate and pleasurable act because it involves direct face-to-face contact and because the mucous membranes that cover the lips and mouth have an especially dense supply of nerve endings. Some individuals are particularly sensitive around their ears, inner thighs, or lower stomach, while breasts and nipples (for both women and men) often are highly preferred places for caressing and oral stimulation.

In addition to various sites around the body, most people are quite responsive to manual or oral contact with their pubic area, although the precise spot that is most arousing varies.

For men, the underside of the full length of the penis, the head of the penis, the scrotum, or the area between the end of the scrotum and the anus (called the perineum) are often quite sensitive. Oral stimulation and sucking of these areas is referred to as oral sex. Oral stimulation of the penis is called fellatio.

For women, the clitoris, vulva, and surrounding areas are especially sensitive. Oral stimulation of these areas, especially to the point of orgasm, is known as cunnilingus. There has been considerable discussion in recent years of various highly sensitive spots within the woman's vagina. The most discussed is called the "G-spot", named after its discoverer, Dr. Ernst Grafenberg. It is a small location inside the vagina on the anterior wall just behind the pubic bone. Stimulating this site is reported for some women to set off the production and ejaculation-like expulsion of fluid from the Skene's gland, the female counterpart of the prostate gland.

For both women and men, anal stimulation may be highly stimulating (although others may find manual, oral,or penile stimulation of the anus to be repulsive).