Maybe it's me, but yeah, it wasn't uncommon for plenty of women to want to get a kiss from their favorite male star? Would it be possible that the male star could take advantage of that and take it too far? Sure. But in the case of Dawson, I definitely think he gets a bad rap for something that from all accounts was completely consensual.
Watching FF and MG now I'm struck by how lecherous both Dawson and Rayburn were back then. I'd have loved to see Dawson kiss the wrong lady and get his nose bloodied. Dawson was all over some of those female contestants. I think he was so embittered by his divorce from Diana Dors that he was trying to find the next Mrs. Dawson, and he did.
The women ran to him on MG though. They chose him constantly in the Super Match, not the other way around. He's not going to kiss the wrong lady, because the wrong lady isn't going to go over to him with puckered lips. He was a good game player and in addition to hoping to go for a kiss with him because he was so smooth and cool, they also picked him because they knew they could count on him for a win if they got the right prompt. He didn't wave them over and demand a kiss as a thank you for getting them the win.
Maybe women shouldn't have been as willing to kiss a stranger back then and times have changed, but in the controlled environment of a TV studio, on camera and, in the case of Feud, with consent, I just don't love trashing on Dawson for that. And I don't mean this to say it was okay or a tradition that should still be carried until today, just that I don't think it was a big deal or should be seen as a big deal when analyzing the legacy of Dawson/Feud.