Jan 22, 2016 02:26 AM
"When I told my girlfriend I was covering Cuddle Con, she was naturally a bit skeptical.
"So it's just a bunch of strangers cuddling?" she asked. She hesitated. "Are you going to be cuddling with all of them?"
The discomfort is completely fair. To us cuddling is intimate, romantic. It's a kind of gift we give each other, not something we share with other people.
Philosophically I agree with what these cuddling enthusiasts are doing -- touch can be powerful, and there's nothing wrong with consenting adults doing it en masse -- but I have a hard time getting on board myself. Why would I want to share my intimate experience with a bunch of people I don't know?
I took my hesitancy to the big event Saturday, which brought together a network of interrelated activities -- partner yoga, massage classes, contact improv -- all centered around Cuddle Up to Me, Portland's new cuddling studio founded by professional cuddler Samantha Hess.
The woman of the hour was running around when the convention opened at noon, so I chatted with one of her new employees, a cuddler who goes by the name Ray Hugs. She got the job (over some 1,000 other applicants) in part because she believes so strongly in Hess' philosophy.
"I believe in the message, I believe in the idea that everyone should be loved and accepted, everyone should have access to that," Hugs said. "[Clients] get so much. They get that connection, that human touch, that acceptance."
Absolutely. That sounds great. But isn't it a little, I don't know, awkward?
"We don't pretend that it's not awkward, because it is," she explained. "Life's awkward, life's challenging, and it's our ability to navigate through that that's really important."
For so long cuddling has been a strictly intimate act, a perk for those in relationships. And the single people of the world? They just don't get that. If they want that level of physical intimacy they have to find a romantic partner or else enter the murky world of Craigslist.
Cuddle Up to Me strips cuddling of all its romantic and sexual implications, offering it as an available service to anyone who needs it. And judging by the long line of people standing outside Hess' studio at noon Saturday, there are a lot of people who need it."===http://www.oregonlive.com/entertainment/...angin.html
![[Image: 17021433-standard.jpg]](http://media.oregonlive.com/oregonian/photo/2015/02/14/17021433-standard.jpg)
"So it's just a bunch of strangers cuddling?" she asked. She hesitated. "Are you going to be cuddling with all of them?"
The discomfort is completely fair. To us cuddling is intimate, romantic. It's a kind of gift we give each other, not something we share with other people.
Philosophically I agree with what these cuddling enthusiasts are doing -- touch can be powerful, and there's nothing wrong with consenting adults doing it en masse -- but I have a hard time getting on board myself. Why would I want to share my intimate experience with a bunch of people I don't know?
I took my hesitancy to the big event Saturday, which brought together a network of interrelated activities -- partner yoga, massage classes, contact improv -- all centered around Cuddle Up to Me, Portland's new cuddling studio founded by professional cuddler Samantha Hess.
The woman of the hour was running around when the convention opened at noon, so I chatted with one of her new employees, a cuddler who goes by the name Ray Hugs. She got the job (over some 1,000 other applicants) in part because she believes so strongly in Hess' philosophy.
"I believe in the message, I believe in the idea that everyone should be loved and accepted, everyone should have access to that," Hugs said. "[Clients] get so much. They get that connection, that human touch, that acceptance."
Absolutely. That sounds great. But isn't it a little, I don't know, awkward?
"We don't pretend that it's not awkward, because it is," she explained. "Life's awkward, life's challenging, and it's our ability to navigate through that that's really important."
For so long cuddling has been a strictly intimate act, a perk for those in relationships. And the single people of the world? They just don't get that. If they want that level of physical intimacy they have to find a romantic partner or else enter the murky world of Craigslist.
Cuddle Up to Me strips cuddling of all its romantic and sexual implications, offering it as an available service to anyone who needs it. And judging by the long line of people standing outside Hess' studio at noon Saturday, there are a lot of people who need it."===http://www.oregonlive.com/entertainment/...angin.html