The Borders of the Self: Contamination Sensitivity and Potency of the Body Apertures and Other Body Parts

Abstract

Three surveys of American undergraduate students explore a central aspect of the concept of "physical self:" the vulnerability or sensitivity of different parts of the body surface, especially apertures, to intrusion and contamination. The basic measure used was rated displeasure at imagined contact of various body parts of the subject with plain neutral objects (e.g., a Q-tip or a poker chip) or with that same object after imagined contact with a potentially offensive site (e.g., a stranger′s mouth). All contaminated objects were described as sterilized by dry heat before contact with the subject. The principal findings from these studies are: (1) Contact with apertures is more unpleasant than contact with unbroken skin. (2) Displeasure at contact with apertures can be analyzed into two components: intrusion sensitivity and contamination sensitivity. (3) The anus is the aperture that is most intrusion sensitive, while the mouth and vagina are the most contamination sensitive points on the body. (4) In general, the more susceptible an aperture to contamination, the more potent it is as a contaminant for other persons. (5) Within the mouth, the sense of offensiveness of an intruding object increases with both physical contact (especially of the tongue) and the sense of "inclusion," that is, being within the mouth cavity even in the absence of contact. (6) Heterosexual males display strong negativity to any sort of contact with other males, while they seem to sexualize contact with unknown females. For heterosexual females and homosexual males, the pattern of sensitivity (by aperture) to cockroaches is like that to strange males or females. However, for heterosexual males, strange male contact is like cockroach contact, but strange female contact is not.