ScholarWorks@숙명여자대학교

초록

This article moves beyond the phenomenology of disgust to the sociology of disgust to address the issue of touch and disgust. We can be disgusted by things that are slimy, slithery, wriggly, oily, or viscid. The tactile disgust that we, as persons with bodied beings, experience in our daily lives are not necessarily related to slimy, slithery, wriggly, oily, or viscid objects, especially from skin-to-skin contact between people, except in the case of senile disgust and certain disease digust. The sense of touch not only makes the reality of one’s own body unforgettable, but also leads to the confirmation of the reality of objects. As the organ of touch and the boundary of the body, the skin carries an enormous psychological weight. It is precisely because of the enormous psychological weight of the body’s boundaries that we imagine a certain distance from our bodies, a space that we do not want to be invaded by others. Since touch is our most intimate sense, physical contact with an unwanted object can rather trigger the most unpleasant emotions. In this sense, disgust is a rejection of contact. If the unfamiliar object is perceived as contaminated, we avoid contact with it even more. Tactile power operates in different ways in different social relationships, especially in different hierarchies. The power to touch other persons’ bodies is unequally distributed. Powerful people touch other people’s bodies casually. But for the person being touched, the touch of another person is deeply disgusting.

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