Article ID: CBB026994732

Dangers that Lurk in a Kiss: Quarantining the American Mouth, 1890–1920 (2022)

unapi

Affluent women, with the inconsistent support of some medical experts, led an early twentieth-century push to stop the practice of kissing. Imogene Rechtin of Cincinnati and likeminded activists argued that all forms of kissing spread harmful bacteria. The anti-kissing campaign was part of a larger effort to impose stricter discipline over the mouth, which thanks to recent advances in bacteriology had been identified as a dangerous vector of disease. Shaped by the Progressive Era inclination to solve problems through strategies of spatial separation, the effort to “quarantine” the American mouth involved disrupting social practices such as sharing the communion chalice and using a common cup at drinking fountains. The anti-kissing movement also attempted to protect women from unsolicited social kisses from other women and uninvited erotic kisses by men. Though public health officials strongly supported other mouth reforms, they opposed the anti-kissing campaign, largely on the nonmedical grounds that it was an impossible rejection of human sexuality. Then as now, public health arguments over mouth practices have been shaped by deeper battles over individual autonomy and the obligations of the individual to society.

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Authors & Contributors
Rune Svarverud
Sanyal, Indranil
Velmet, Aro
Barbara Barksdale Clowse
Meneghini, Luisa
Shin, Dongwon
Concepts
Hygiene
Public health
Medicine and society
Disease and diseases
Medicine and culture
Communicable diseases
Time Periods
20th century, early
19th century
Meiji period (Japan, 1868-1910)
Places
Portugal
Germany
France
Argentina
Netherlands
Russia
Institutions
Calcutta Medical College
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