You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
At the Bottom of the Self: Touching. , No. 1, pp. 7-20.
Referring to two literary examples, a science fiction narrative by J. Varley and Samuel Beckett's novel Watt, the author explores the psychological meaning of early communication via skin-to-skin contact and the later importance of the “taboo to touch.” Emphasizing that the skin is the first organ of any meaningful exchange, the involvement of which is necessary for sufficient cathexis of sensory elements of communication, the author describes a ubiquitous fantasy of the joint skin of mother and infant. This fantasy is necessary to enable the development of the ego as a skin-ego.
Skin contact also supports the infant's identification with the mother, that is, with an object that can be touched. The author emphasizes that this is not about satisfaction of libido, but rather the satisfaction of a drive to attach and bind, leading to a primary feeling of safety for the self. Referring to Grotstein and citing the importance of the lap position, the author stresses the need for contact between the back of the child and the belly of the object; this provides the child not only with a feeling of warmth and safety, but also with a sense of its own spine that is the basis for its stability and the reliability of its body-ego. Similarly, the contact of the belly of the child with the back of the object is understood as providing a