The Power of Touch: Exploring Ashley Montagu's Insights on Human Connection

Touching skin, sensuality, are vital for human connection and survival.

This is one of my all-time favorite songs and evokes memories of my wife, Pat, and me.

"Touch but my lips with those fair lips of thine,-- Though mine be not so fair, yet are they red--" William Shakespeare

"See how she leans her cheek upon her hand. O, that I were a glove upon that hand That I might touch that cheek!" William Shakespeare

Skin is the largest organ in the human body. That is why it is celebrated in songs, poems, plays, and music and appears repeatedly in the vocabulary. Our skin needs touching from the moment of birth and throughout our lives. It is our skin and touching that define sensuality.

I will never forget learning about the psychological and physical importance of touching. One of the critical studies was about the effect of orphaned human babies who lost both parents during the Second World War and were left alone in their cribs because European hospitals did not have enough staff to care for them other than bottle-feeding. The bottles were propped up in the cribs, and the infants were left to feed. Many did not survive.

The Renee Spitz study focused on European orphaned babies after World War II. It revealed that infants who were deprived of physical touch and emotional care despite having their basic needs met experienced severe developmental delays, if not death. Many of these babies showed signs of emotional withdrawal, experienced stunted physical growth, and had higher mortality rates. Spitz's research highlighted the importance of human touch and emotional connection for healthy psychological and physical development in early childhood.

The word "touch" fills the vernacular: "I found your essay very touching.” The romantic song "You Touch Me" was beautiful. Touching is also sexual. There is no sex with touch and without skin sensation. Humanity as a whole requires touch and touchback from one another.

Ashley Montagu's "Touching: The Human Significance of the Skin" profoundly explores the skin and touch in human development, health, and psychological stability. Montagu, a distinguished anthropologist and humanist, delves into the biological underpinnings, psychological implications, and cultural roles of touch. He asserts that touch is not just a physical sensation but a fundamental human need that profoundly shapes psychoneurological development and attachment processes.

According to Montagu, the skin is more than a simple barrier or an organ of sensation. Instead, it is a dynamic, elaborate system that, from the earliest times of our conception, serves as one of the essential ways in which communication occurs. Our touch experience in the early years of life is decisive concerning our affective and social lives. He emphasizes how the skin is paramount as a sensory interface between our inner world and the environment, shaping our view of the world and our interpersonal relations.

Montagu also considers the different cultural approaches to touch. He looks at manifestations of physical affection. Some societies are much more contractual, moving toward maintaining a condition of physical closeness and touching as natural, critical parts of human interaction. Still, others may restrict or discourage touch, finding it inappropriate or uncomfortable in most situations.

Montagu criticizes modern Western societies for their tendency to downplay the importance of touch, especially in the upbringing of children. He even considers this lack of tactile stimulation in early childhood to be connected with alienation, loneliness, and emotional difficulties later in life. During the era of Dr. Spock in the 1950s, it was advised to allow babies to cry rather than picking them up and providing comfort.

When discussing the role of skin in human health, Montagu refers to the influence of touch on the immune system and physical health. He refers to studies that evidence the stress-releasing impact of therapeutic touch, its healing effects, and improving mental states. According to Montagu, skin is significant in the psychosomatic process, influencing not only the emotional but also the physical state of a person.

A significant theme in Montagu's book is that humanity is friendly and tactile.

Touch is fundamental to bonding; without it, we lose our connection to others and ourselves. He says that in this technological and isolated world, physical contact is becoming rare, and because of this, the importance of touch is overlooked.

Montagu's work is a powerful call to recognize the power of touch and its central role in fostering human connection and well-being. The book shows how skin and touch form the fabric of human experiences. Montagu's synthesis of scientific research, psychological theory, and anthropological insight presents an interesting argument that places touch at the heart of human life. This influential book challenges its readers to reconsider their understanding of touch and its profound impact on every stage of life, from infancy to adulthood.