‘From a hearty kiss to a disgusted slap’: A new book tells the story of the kiss
It hasn’t been long since a kiss turned into a scandal. The kiss that Luis Rubiales, president of the Spanish football federation, gave to the player Jenny Hermoso on the mouth. He gave the kiss in front of the television cameras and became a symbol of an unsightly male arrogance.
For communication expert Hector Haarketter, this manner does not represent a real kiss and he knows very well what he is talking about, because he wrote an entire book on the subject of kissing. As he says, kissing is a special way of communicating a long biological, cultural-historical and sociological course of the human species.
The kiss in art
A kiss can hold surprises. The journey into the world of kissing is sensual, educational and full of surprises. Certainly, however, a kiss in public no longer usually shocks Western societies. Even in cinema or the rest of the arts, a kiss can rarely be considered provocative. In 1896, however, things were not exactly like that. The first kiss was shown on the big screen and it made the audience blush while causing a lot of moralistic content reviews. As for the painting entitled “The Secret Kiss” by the rococo painter Fragonard, it was considered obscene and frivolous and greatly occupied his contemporaries.
Science also dealt with the kiss. From the great psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud to the engineer and inventor Wolfgang von Keppelen in the 18th century, who had also made a scale of gradations according to sound and humidity.
As you know people don’t kiss all over the world. Kissing is more common in the northern regions of the planet and almost non-existent in the sub-Saharan regions or the Amazon, Haarketter says in his book. The kiss was particularly popular in the Indo-European regions and was not sexual, romantic, but ritual.
The most famous political kiss
Kisses as a form of greeting between equals existed in ancient Persia anyway. The Greeks probably didn’t much prefer them while the Romans kissed passionately. The first Christians fashioned kisses that did not refer to any hierarchy, but this classless background was rather disturbing and they were quickly abolished by the official Church, which considered it proper to kiss only the Pope’s feet.
Kissing on the mouth was completely banned in the Middle Ages, but the faithful were allowed to continue kissing the Pope’s feet. Ritual kisses remained in fashion in Russia longer than in the West. And one of the most famous kisses in the world is that of Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev with East German leader Erich Honecker in 1979, which also made it into art. The French photographer Régi Bossy captured it and thus it remained in eternity.
The book on the history of kissing, even if it is very theoretical in some chapters, is written lightly, offering not only knowledge but also entertainment.
Edited by: Maria Rigoutsou
Source :Skai
I am Frederick Tuttle, who works in 247 News Agency as an author and mostly cover entertainment news. I have worked in this industry for 10 years and have gained a lot of experience. I am a very hard worker and always strive to get the best out of my work. I am also very passionate about my work and always try to keep up with the latest news and trends.
