Touch?

Firstly I wanted to say thank you to everyone who posted. It was very interesting. I was curious about the general populations view on the subject. Mine personally is that I don't initiate any kind of physical contact outside of an intimate relationship. I grew up with a family that didn't practice kind touching. Most touches were meant to hurt and directly after physical violence we'd be forced to hug our parents and apologize for making them have to do that, so I don't initiate hugs, though I have learned to tolerate them from friends. I was simply curious how normal it was for friends to wish to hug.

Secondly, this was an opinion poll so why anyone would neg @Mysterium is extremely rude in my opinion and if you did so, I would like you to please undo what you did. Her opinion was just as useful and valid to me as anyone else's here and I appreciate everyone's opinions. There was no bad advice, this wasn't about advice. This was just me gathering information on the general outlook on hugging and touching of friends. And to neg someone because their family didn't hug them? Feels cruel. It feels like saying that person is wrong. Please fix it because those negative marks make me feel like you look down on people who's families were not very affectionate and I don't like that for obvious reasons.

Thank you again to everyone for responding. I appreciate the feedback and it gives me a good idea on how others view hugging. I up-marked everyone who participated. :) You've been most helpful

I'm going to answer this knowing that I'm an extreme case. 80% of my friends and I have had sex right around 2 months in. I hug good friends including new ones around 2 weeks into a friendship but it depends on the person and how we mesh as people. There are also some cultural influences involved.

I am the type that likes to touch and hug my friends. Because I like it when my friends hug and touch me (that sounds weird lol). I think it's because it makes me feel super accepted. My family hugs after hard times or when we are leaving but not much besides that. So it makes me feel elated when friends hug or touch me just because. Makes me feel fuzzy :)

I do it on a case by case basis. I know there are friends of mine who are uncomfortable with hugging/kissing so I don't do it with them but most of my friends are huggers and so am I.

In my opinion, I don't like touch. No matter who, I feel awkward with hugs or any other sort like that. I feel uncomfortable. But if someone needs support or anything like that I hug them. It's weird though, if we hug as in saying goodbye it'll feel awkward, but if they need that kind of support or something it just feels natural. I don't know, it's probably just me.

Normally I don't hug people they hug me although I do hug back. I am close with my family but until the past year or two we didn't hug very often bit of an old British stiff upper lip thing. My friends often hug me and have even kissed me on the cheek before, yet me and my best friend just don't it's just not our thing seems often pointless if you both know how close you are without such open shows of affection.