"Discussing issues of parent-child contact ranging from breastfeeding to sexual abuse, Jean O'Malley Halley traces the evolution of mainstream ideas about touching between adults and children over the course of the twentieth century in the United Sates. Boundaries of Touch shows how arguments about adult-child touch have been politicized, simplified, and bifurcated into "naturalist" and "behaviorist" viewpoints, thereby sharpening certain binary constructions such as mind/body and male/female."--BOOK JACKET. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

What are the "appropriate" touching boundaries between adults and children? Halley (sociology and anthropology, Wagner College) presents an intriguing exploration of child-rearing attitudes and practices prevalent in families in the US and illustrates the evolution of current "ideologies of touch." The sociocultural milieu of the 20th century has created a rigid, binary framework for defining "slippery boundaries" for skin-to-skin contact in the most intimate of relationships. The author allows the voices of eminent child-rearing experts Benjamin Spock and John Watson to be heard, as they contributed, respectively, to the bifurcated camps of the "pro-touch" naturalists and the "anti-touch" behaviorists. Halley challenges the "dogmatism of dualism" mirrored in the "mind-body split" of intuition versus science, and she examines the implications of this central dichotomy through investigations into three forms of adult-child contact: breastfeeding, sharing sleep, and child sexual abuse. This reviewer is surprised that Halley avoids addressing physical measures of discipline but applauds her for initiating a compelling conversation about the ideological underpinnings of a controversial issue. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. Upper-division Undergraduates; Graduate Students; Researchers/Faculty. Reviewed by S. Durr. From: Syndetics Solutions, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

Jean O'Malley Halley is an assistant professor in the Sociology and Anthropology Department at Wagner College in New York City. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.