What does “chemical Mickey” that drives a man to love-making mean?

Ordinarily, mickey in the context of someone being drugged refers to a “a beverage, usually alcoholic, that has been drugged”, ie, a Mickey Finn. Wiktionary says the term is “Probably named for the manager and bartender of a Chicago establishment, the Lone Star Saloon and Palm Garden Restaurant, which operated from 1896 to 1903, who was accused of using "knockout drops" to incapacitate and rob some of his customers”.

The article's form, “a chemical mickey”, probably was intended to suggest a pheromonal or hormonal effect, as opposed to the effect of an actual drink.


It's actually a form of slipping a mickey. From dictionary.com:

to secretly put a Mickey Finn in someone's alcoholic drink. (This drug either makes the victim pass out or causes immediate diarrhea.) : Somebody slipped Marlowe a Mickey and sent him into action.

In this case, it means that the kiss carries a chemical pheromone that affects the behavior of the other individual in a manner similar to a drug. Unlike the original phrase, it does not imply intentionality.