This theory doesn't quite resonate with me. I've had some remarkable cuddles professionally, and imo it's because both parties wanted to be there. The money facilitated the event, but once that started it was just about mutual respect, and sharing a common goal.
Cool! I’m going to go think about anything else. Have fun doing whatever this is.
Also want to throw in that I've booked my share of pros, and I am happy that this exists as a service for people.
I love my job. The fact that I get paid for it doesn't diminish my love for it. The pay just means that I don't have to get another one in addition to this one.
I disagree with some of the truths. Your supply and demand is overly simplistic because some pros are established, some are novices, some are valued for their appearance, some for their service, some for their personality, and others because they have skills to offer beyond cuddling (massage, dancing, etc I have seen many things offered). Supply and demand would be more realistic if it was a commodity such as gas, wheat, gold, etc. and everybody essentially had the same product, but pro cuddlers are valued differently by different people. There are highly successful cuddlers, some that are on the forums, that I wouldn’t pay a red cent to and others that I can’t wait for the opportunity to see. Obviously, this is not supply and demand but personal wants and needs of a client. In addition, some set their prices high because they value quality over quantity which has nothing to do with supply and demand.
The value is in the eye of the beholder.
Heh. Maybe "truths" wasn't the right word. More like my strongly held perceptions.
@Syins, @MCcuddles2 is not talking about the inate worth of a human being. He is talking about value. Value is a highly variable quantity that can change wildly from moment to moment or circumstance to circumstance. It is not the same for all observers. Some people would give their life savings for a ticket to the Oscars: I would pay nothing.
I don't agree with all of @MCcuddle2's analysis, but he is right that a randomly-selected man has a low value to women cuddle enthusiasts. Such a man carries risks: of being not entirely clean; of behaving inappropriately; or just being hard work. In addition to all that, there is a great longage of such men looking to cuddle women. High supply means each unit has a lower value. Not a lower intrinsic worth, but a lower value to women who cuddle.
We all assign value to other people all the time. For example, I suspect that you value your friend more highly than you value @MCcuddles2.
@MCcuddles2 Fair enough. Can’t bicker with someone’s perception of how they view things. Well I do have a few choice words for Putin’s perspective.
To the OP, your first premise is not true. In a capitalist system, for thing A to have value does not mean that thing B MUST have less value.
Value is subjective. Someone can take fresh apples, sugar, flour, eggs, and forth, all inherently valuable, and bake them into a delicious apple pie which probably has greater value to many people. But it won't have greater value to everyone.
@MCcuddles2 You're correct, you aren't attacking anybody, but that doesn't mean you aren't trolling.
"What is trolling in social media? A troll is Internet slang for a person who intentionally tries to instigate conflict, hostility, or arguments in an online social community."
@GreatHornedOwl hmm. Certainly not my intention.
The idea has been floating around in my mind.
Also, I recently watched an episode of a show called Atlanta which dealt with racism and capitalism being intertwined. The bit about value being based on another thing value was brought up in the show and kind of got me thinking.
@CuddleDuncan - I fail to see any distinction between "value" and "worth."
Merriam-Webster seems to equate the two. Their definition of value: 3 : relative worth, utility, or importance
Giving words a meaning that is different than the generally understood meaning doesn't help your assertion.
I think the real distinction is value assigned to you by a system, versus your actual intrinsic value in a healthy human society.
For example, during Jim Crow and segregation, the system assigned a lower value to a human being based on the color of their skin. This had nothing to do with their actual value as a human being.
I see capitalism in the same way. We are all assigned a value based on certain measures. Those measures aren't exactly wise, healthy or kind.
I don't disagree that capitalism is the best thing we, as a species, have tried so far. Bur there is a next level that our species can progress into, based on abundance.
@GreatHornedOwl there is a difficulty of language here because the modern world is so loose in its appreciation of meaning. Use whatever words you like: my point is not a semantic one. The intrinsic worth of a person is not the same thing as their value in a particular context at a particular time to a particular observer.
Here is an imaginary example. Following a bizarre set of circumstance there is a fire in the building containing you and two other people. One of those other people is either your partner, child, parent, heart-throb actor, or me. The other is somebody for whom you have rather less favourable feelings. A disliked politician, bully, ex-partner or, well, me again. Both are trapped. You can only save one. Who do you save? Both of these people may or may not have the same intrinsic worth: but the one you save has more value to you.
Somebody else in your position (The rescuer) may save the other person of course. But if we repeat the experiment with a very large number of people as rescuer, and 97% save Trapped Person B rather than Trapped Person A, then we could say that B has more value that A.
Slavery gives another example. Two different slaves in a market may have the same intrinsic worth (to use my language) but they will have different prices, different value. On another day, or in another market, their values may be reversed.
@CuddleDuncan I understand your distinction.
well if the OP's "truths / strongly help perceptions" are correct I'm glad these men who are attractive , wealthy, well behaved, and surrounded by like minded friends are having cuddles here. Yay cuddling! 🤗
(Now back to the search feature to find out who we are discussing, because all I see so far are several blank male profiles!)😉
I think people need to lay off the trolling accusations as that in itself can instigate conflict when there isn’t any if one reads closely. @MCcuddles2 qualified his original post in the very first sentence basically saying it may spark disagreement, maybe even conflict, but it is how he feels. He was asking for discussion and others’ opinions. He is not tearing down anything, yet those who do not seem to understand the post or who disagree with his perceptions casually toss out the troll accusation instead of simply remaining silent and going to another thread that is more conducive to their version of civil discourse. There are several threads to engage in and if you deem a thread not worthy of a civil response then simply move on.
FunCartel - I have no objection to people trolling. In fact, I enjoy engaging in the discussion. I just think that "This might generate some discussion and controversy......" but I'm not trolling because I didn't attack anybody is sort of disingenuous. Call it what it is.
Since we are making distinctions here is one. On the one hand, a paid cuddler who is doing it occasionally to supplement income and doesn't plan to make a career out of it. Maybe a college student or a working single mother. On the other hand, a paid cuddler who treats it as a business to make as much money as possible and sees as many cuddlers as possible with a revolving door or assembly line approach, who has dozens upon dozens upon dozens of karma, who "markets" herself across multiple websites, who refers to cuddlers as "clients". If I ever pay to cuddle again I will never see the latter for reasons that the OP explained, so there is no need for me to repeat.
@GreatHornedOwl aha.
You're quoting me as saying: " but I'm not trolling because I didn't attack anybody"
If you read my post, I wrote: "I'm definitely not trolling or attacking anyone."
"Or" being the key word.
@MCcuddles2 - Sorry, my mistake. BTW, I really do enjoy some of the trolling posts.
Most of the time when people are accused of trolling It's because they are going against the group think mentality. Also a lot of censorship is for the the same reason.
This is a lot of mental gymnastics on both sides to explain or dismiss that some people are just unwanted and can only find affection if they pay market rates for it.
@samfiddle all I am saying is that the people are "unwanted" due to a warped system that we live under.
The alternative is something like that of Native American systems, where each individual had value and was accepted and cared for, regardless of their ability or physical features. There are certain basic human rights one shouldn't have to "earn" in a healthy society.
We don't live in that healthy society. We might someday, but in the meanwhile I'd like to see it for what it is.
The act of "seeing it for what it is" is the hard to swallow pill.
I don’t think either of you are seeing it for what it is, because you have already stated that is your perception. It’s how you perceive it. It is how it is from your perspective but it doesn’t make it so.
The Native American system is a bad one because Native Americans were not one culture and women were mere property in many tribes and many tribes practiced slavery with captured enemies. A case of the grass being greener on the other side.
On the flip side, many Native American tribes were light years ahead of westerners on LGBTQ acceptance before westerners enforced hostile Judeo-Christian ideals on them.
Just goes to show you can tromp all over the globe and people are a mixed bag regardless of culture.
I think regardless of the economic or governing system we're under, at the end of the day we're all humans and will act like humans. The rules we set in place will guide us to act in a certain way, but won't change the way we are.
@sunnysideup 💯
@FunCartel ah yes, I agree that not all native tribes and their customs were ideal and were even barbaric.
But, in general, if you were a member of a tribe you were cared for. Of course at the same time, they were savage with their enemies.
I think the ideal is the extension of that inner tribe culture.
@snugbuddy I recently got muted for saying I found it hilarious this person on here thought I wanted to interact with her. For the record I did find it hilarious. It’s not like I was just saying that to be a smart ass. I was just being honest. I also got muted while being told (by the mod) that he/she also believed in free speech… but there were consequences for one’s actions. Again, I don’t believe what I said was an insult. I also once once said on here I thought it was annoying when women use angles to hide their body type. And that they misrepresented themselves when they used the word curvy. A mod told me I had gaul to make such a statement about women while I probably couldn’t see my own dick and I got muted for week. I wasn’t trying to be a dick by saying that, though looking back I could have chosen my words more carefully. Super unprofessional though.
I digging through the claims, beyond repeatedly stirring things up in the forums and having multiple warnings on this followed by false allegations against someone on the mod team which I'm guessing he was referring to Sideon yet had no private messages with anyone on the mod team, @TheBestCuddlr is banned. People should remember while you can have freedom of speech, this freedom doesn't apply to private companies who can set rules on what is or isn't allowed on their platform and so breaking those rules has consequences. [reurbo]
To expand a bit more, Economic system and government does matter though, for example it would be in my best interest not to live in a country under Nazi rule for I would be exterminated. I think capitalism works the way it does because it leverages the way that humans naturally are, rather than suppresses. I'm not an expert though. Having a sense of belonging is very important for mental health, and I think modern culture should definitely do way better with this.
But I think that much what you described what men are valued for will remain relatively constant regardless of the governing system. Physical attraction, access to resources (I'm sure the more successful hunters were valued more if we're talking about tribes), ability to network, to showcase good communication, these things I believe will remain constant. There may be a few outliers as with many things.