The Art of Sexual Assault

Or, on Amazon, “The Art of Kissing”

There’s a little book on Amazon called The Art of Kissing by Hugh Morris. Originally published in 1936, the 42-page instructional was reprinted in 1988, and again released (with a cute new cover) in 2014 on Amazon’s independent publishing platform, CreateSpace.

the cute new cover

It has 15 ratings and an average of 4/5 stars.

Let’s wonder why together.

In The Art of Kissing, Morris provides boys with detailed instructions on how to kiss women, as well as how to approach them. The original small, red, stapled book even features graphics of different lip sizes, because, “Different sizes of mouths require a different technique in kissing” (22).

From The Art of Kissing by Hugh Morris

In the introductory pages, Morris draws phrases from poets — Coleridge, Shakespeare, Martial — to describes a kiss as “nectar breathing,” a “seal of love,” and “the fragrance of balsam extracted from romantic trees” (7).

Lovely, flowery, cute.