Body Hot Spots: The Anatomy of Human Social Organs and Behavior [Hardcover]

R. Dale Guthrie (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Van Nostrand Reinhold (June 1976)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0442229828
• ISBN-13: 978-0442229825
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,597,448 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Body Has Evolved as a Social Instrument, June 4, 2010

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born into this (Roanoke, Virginia) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Body Hot Spots: The Anatomy of Human Social Organs and Behavior (Hardcover)

I have been researching the history and psychology of fashion and to my surprise found this an extremely useful guide to some of the bodily-physical foundations of social behavior. Although 35 years old the book is barely dated and is actually better fleshed out than the current books I have examined. Guthrie (best known for his recent and magisterial 'The Nature of Paleolithic Art') is even prescient on a number of issues such as when he comments on the then recent lust for images of female pubic hair (exposure of which had only been made legal a few years before)implying that the future of pornographic exposure would more likely be towards a more juvenile look--less mature growth shall we say.

Guthrie believed himself to be working in a new discipline he called 'Human Social Anatomy' blending paleontology and anthropology, human ethology and human evolution with social psychology. It was probably E.O. Wilson's admittedly more profound 'Sociobiology' that kept Guthrie's attempt from taking off. And probably Desmond Morris's best-selling 'The Naked Ape' was the marketing model for 'Body Hot Spots'. Guthrie's book in many ways complements and extends Morris's ideas and while there is some overlap Guthrie assembled a lot of material that is not considered by Morris or that Morris would only get to much later.

But Guthrie does seem to have opened up an original conversation regarding facets of the body--from hair, skin and face to smells and sexual ornaments-- whose foundational meanings have generally been obscured by the civilizing process thus revealing their original and continuing power to shape social behavior: From status to menace and the art of deception to cues to beauty and sexual attraction, youth and aging, and more.

A serious sportsman--that is a hunter in the highest sense, one who has a profound respect for animals (think Paul Shepard)--he draws many parallels between animal and human; often literally as there are many sketches of both animal and human features that serve to illustrate patterns of meaning and behavior.

The book has six sections divided into 27 short highly readable chapters which usually begin with an interesting anecdote or concrete example and then proceed to make their point concisely, thus making for very convenient reading. Some examples of Chapter titles: "Odor: The Rankness of Rank"; "The Love and Menace of Hair"; "The Phallic Threat: Giant Penises and Similar Threat Devices"; Automimicry: Big Boobs,Ruby Lips,and Pendulous Noses"; "The Open and Closed Heart"; "The Stiff Upper Lip and the Moustache"; "Leathernecks, Pimples, and Smooth Baby Bottoms"; "Clothes as Social Ornaments"; "Excrement Communication"...and much more.

If you are interested in the usually hidden psychology of how facets of the human body shape our behavior then I think you will find this book still fresh with much to say. Also there is a very good bibliography.