Intimate Behaviour
by Desmond Morris
First published 1971
Desmond Morris analyses the roots of human intimacy, from
the handshake through the twelve stages that people pass through on their way
to the total sexual embrace. Morris contends that the months just before and
after birth are when the seeds of intimacy are planted and are critical to development.
From the loving attention of the mother, the child learns and responds with
intimate gestures of his or her own. He argues that human adults follow certain
patterns of intimate behaviour that are based on these infant experiences for
their entire lives. In addition to sexual intimacy, Morris discussed social
intimacy, intimacy substitutes, object intimacy, and self-intimacy. Intimate
Behaviour is a provocative view of humans need to touch and to be touched, to
love and to be loved. At a crucial moment, a gentle embrace can still do more
good than a thousand earnest discussions. Despite all our social and
technological advances, the primeval body language of love still remains the
most potent force we have for the expression of feelings of comfort and caring.