Clearly it's a touchy subject to bring up. I've had success talking about the subject as hypothetical first: "wouldn't it be nice/cool if..." or "sometimes I wish..." Reading the crowd wherever you are at the moment is critical as well. I would very much like to see professional cuddling become mainstream, and congrats to those who become and maintain professionals here. It helps countless people meet their needs for physical touch and face to face connections. However I've encountered numerous people using this site for reasons other than harmless cuddles. Stigmas are difficult to shake, no matter how beneficial is the real deal; bad apples speak louder than pure ones, unfortunately. Pulling from my conversations with several friends who have earned their esthetician/massage therapist certifications, I've learned that field is still considered "adult entertainment" in many states. (Some states and cities don't even require any certification at all). Although it's not directly related, everyone knows the benefits of a real massage, but still remembers the days when "happy endings" were out in the open and available. This was a long reply, also my first one, and I didn't read any others before posting so apologies if it seems repeated. Happy cuddling!
Professionalism is super important. Just because you pass to become a pro, cuddle as a pro and get karma as a pro, does not mean your a pro. Most of us on here have patience, understanding, and grace. But when folks get in and become pros and talk about this is thier job and livelyhood, and start telemarketing cuddling will become some bullshit.
So no it does not need to become accepted as an income only venture, as a dating site, as a heal the world movement etc, etc, etc. Let it stay cuddle comfort.
If it wasn't for the pros on this site, many men wouldn't be receiving cuddles at all. Even though money is involved, just receiving a long embrace makes me feel better than any therapy session.
I just want this to become more normalized. A cuddle is nothing more than a prolonged hug. Paying for it might be weird to some people, but I don't care. I still really enjoy it.
I'm attending my first community cuddles event in Colorado on July 9th and will see how that goes.
@Mike403 for what it's worth, a whooooole lot of what we now consider socially acceptable would have been considered absolutely scandalous 50, 100, 150 years ago. Heck, even 20 years can completely change what is considered "normal" vs "weird" - case in point, consider how reality TV first became popular in the early 00s and was so out there, and now has become so mainstream. Compare reactions to The Simple Life vs The Kardashians. Or going back further, in the 1880s ballet was becoming very popular, but ballet dancers were still essentially considered sex-work-adjacent the way cuddlers are today. There was something inherently improper, rebellious, and downright sexual about women dancing on stage even in full length skirts so only low born women would ever be allowed to enter the theater, opera, or ballet corps. Then compare that to now, where a large number of little girls in Western society take ballet lessons at some point, attending the ballet is bougie, and ballet is considered rather stuffy and conservative compared to most forms of entertainment these days 🤣 Ballerinas went from the bad girl bohemians to the good girl bunheads over the course of about 50 years, so that by WW1 the image of theater girls had basically completely been reimagined.
Similar change has gradually been happening with massage therapy over the last 30ish years I'd say, and now even porn and escorting has entered the process over the past decade. It's only a matter of time before cuddling gets more normalized, it's just the way humans progress 🤷🏻♀️
@justjennn
I would have asked "How is being a professional politician different from being a prostitute?"
@beaubliss
“How is being a professional politician different from being a prostitute?"
I’m guessing there are some things prostitutes won’t do for money 😂
First point I want to make is that, "widely socially acceptable activity," does fit into a category of things that only have one meaning.
Example: Interracial dating, LBGTQ, and recreational marijuana use all fit into that category for some people and absolutely don't fit into that category for others.
Second point: Again, I am really new here and have not met any cuddle buddies yet. However, I was looking into it before Covid and didn't get around to it in time. Part of that reason was partially stigma and partially embarrassment. See, I wanted to be a professional cuddler because of my empathic nature, but I just thought it was weird.
So, how I would like to define it and also see it morph into, similar to the examples above, is; an activity that is well accepted without stigma by the masses, even though a significant portion of the population just doesn't want to indulge personally.
Imagine a national hug month where people all over the country stand around in public places with some kind of recognizable object and people can just walk up to them and hug them. That could be the gateway drug into real acceptance. 🩵
Not if it has a forum.
It might but probably not.....most people probably won't want to cuddle with someone they don't know!! It's still a bit weird for me, but I also am open to meeting in person first to see if this person could be someone I would want to cuddle with!
I still think about this topic. I'm tempted to tell family members that I book professional cuddlers and see how they react.
I was hesitant to even tell my parents that I see a professional listener (a therapist). I'm not about to mention seeing professional cuddlers.
@Unscented_Lemon - They might send me to a therapist and pay for it if I mention professional cuddling.
Not as long as there's flakes roaming the site...
I cant wait for the day they have cuddle shops at the local shopping centers kinda like yoga and karate etc😌🥹
@Baby_ They do in Japan, at least pre-covid they did. Not sure they survived the pandemic or not...
The first rule of professional cuddling is don't talk about professional cuddling.
Perhaps someday but it will probably won’t happen until a couple generations from now as this is still a somewhat prudish society
I still believe it has the potential to go mainstream MUCH sooner if a couple of well known public figures (athletes, musicians, actors, etc.) were to mention it in a positive light. If the past 20 years has taught me anything it is that society is capable of changing very quickly under certain circumstances.
@JohnR1972 - Bill Nye(the science guy) had a segment on professional cuddling. @stormydaycuddle and another person who was at the last community cuddles event I attended found out about professional cuddling through him.
I didn't have a Netflix account, but I signed up for one just to watch it.
@Mike403 😎😎😎😎
@Mike403 - How long ago did he do that segment? I did not have him in mind when I posted my earlier comment but he is the type of guy who MIGHT get the ball rolling (I have not seen the segment so I don’t know how he described cuddling).
Someone has to be first to talk about it. That might embolden someone else to be second, etc. there is no guarantee cuddling will ever be mainstream but I have seen much bigger societal changes over the past 20 years so I know it could potentially become mainstream pretty quickly.
@JohnR1972 - It was in season 2 of Bill Nye Saves the World. I looked up when that season was... in 2017.
So far, people that I've discussed pro cuddling with find it to be acceptable. Especially when they think back to how lonely and touch-starved they felt during covid lockdowns. The only questions of concern I hear are about safety.
I've found that people become less skeptical using words/phrases like touch-starved and platonic. They resonate. As my massages and skritches are legendary in my friends group, and hugs are greatly encouraged, my friends were very open minded to this new "concept." One tells one who tells one... etc. Hey, it has to start somewhere!
i personally believe it will be , we should normalize the activity and engage more in social awareness , it will sink eventually .
If people are needing or wanting something, they can research it and find it. It doesn’t have to be normalized for us to want to do it. If you don’t trust talking to people about it, then don’t talk about it. I talk to trustworthy people about it, my close friends. (I have gotten strange looks, but that’s okay.) I don’t need everyone’s opinions or approval to do what I want to do. People may not understand it, but that’s their issue, not mine. Happy cuddling, Cuddling Community.
@CuddleHugs01234 - Funny that people can go to a strip club and get a lap dance and that's normal, but platonic cuddling where all the clothes stay on is weird.
@Mike403 not everybody is doing that though. I’d say cuddling is not as common or well known. I wouldn’t say either is weird. Some people want to do one, and some want to do the other. Some may not want to do either, some may want to do both. Just do what you want or need, and try not to worry about what others think.
Our culture has changed, and is far, far more financially transactional than it has ever been.
It will become even more so in the future.
A quick glance on social media is enlightening, with business buzzwords being the norm now in talking about personal relationships.
“Investing time”, “Bring to the table”, “Meet expectations”, etc.
And, admittedly, I am probably the moron here.
Maybe every relationship has always been transactional, and only now are people being honest about it.
But, when weighed against the “You are enough” message…
It’s clear that no one is ever enough, so bring cash too.
@Mike403 And there are plenty of people out there who look down on those who go to strip clubs or get lap dances.