Is commitment also a ticket to being physically intimate to the other?

No one has the RIGHT to intimacy with you. If they see it as a right rather than a privilege, then that is the wrong person for you. If they are manipulative about intimacy, then they are manipulative, controlling and domineering about other things as well. If someone feels it's a*right* then that's an automatic red flag.

I gotta be frank on this one. Physical intimacy plays a huge role in relationships. It helps two individuals who have a commitment to notice that they are more than "just friends". It is sometimes the physical intimacy that creates the phycological situation in which you feel completely committed to that person that is willing to do "things" that he/she wont do with any other individual.

Being in a committed relationship puts you under no obligation to do anything you do not want to do. If you do not want to kiss or go further, than you should be clear with your significant other about your feelings upfront, so he/she is not surprised later. If they don't want to deal with that, it's their loss. On the other side, you technically don't have to be in a relationship to be intimate with another person. I prefer being in a relationship for intimacy myself, but that's a personal preference on my part. The bottom line is that it is up to each individual, in OR out of a relationship, to decided what they are comfortable with. As long as you're not hurting anyone and you're staying true to yourself, that's what's most important - not labels.