As Diane Ackerman notes in A Natural History of the Senses, "Touch is so powerful a healer that we go to professional touchers (doctors, hairdressers, masseuses, dance instructors, cosmeticians, barbers, gynecologists, tailors, back manipulators, prostitutes and manicurists) and frequent employers of touch - discotheques, shoeshine stands and mud baths."
It seems that, as our culture places more restrictions on touch within human relationships, alternative forms of touch become more popular.
It is as if we needed a minimum of touch for our emotional well-being and physical wellness, so we find acceptable ways, and sometimes functional ways (e.g. going to the hairdresser), of being touched.
[Tiffany Field]
Touch, p.108
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Related posts:-
Touch Societies
Maintaining the balance
The Sensual World
