Even the hand-shake of a sympathetic man
is enough in some chaste and sensitive women to produce sexual excitement
or sometimes even the orgasm. The cases in which love arises from the
influence of stimuli coming through the sense of touch are no doubt
frequent, and they would be still more frequent if it were not that the
very proximity of this sense to the sexual sphere causes it to be guarded
with a care which in the case of the other senses it is impossible to
exercise. This intimacy of touch and the reaction against its sexual
approximations leads to what James has called "the _antisexual instinct_,
the instinct of personal isolation, the actual repulsiveness to us of the
idea of intimate contact with most of the persons we meet, especially
those of our own sex." He refers in this connection to the unpleasantness
of the sensation felt on occupying a seat still warm from the body of
another person.[3] The Catholic Church has always recognized the risks of
vuluptuous emotion involved in tactile contacts, and the facility with
which even the most innocent contacts may take on a libidinous
character.[4]
The following observations were written by a lady (aged 30) who
has never had sexual relationships: "I am only conscious of a
very sweet and pleasurable emotion when coming in contact with
honorable men, and consider that a comparison can be made between
the idealism of such emotions and those of music, of beauties of
Nature, and of productions of art.
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