"Professional Cuddling" is unironically a thing.
Welcome to the neoliberal hellscape of commodified human contact.
this post was submitted on 30 Dec 2024
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Uh sure, the neoliberals are to blame
Neoliberals probably commidicized that person's personality.
That's kinda their thing.
Stupid neoliberal 4000 year old profession.
Don't worry there's plenty of cuddle sluts.
Their beards are so scratchy though!
Isn’t it mostly a front anyway?
As much as professional masseuse is. Which is to say often enough, but not so often that honest professionals don't have to deal with creeps who can't take a hint on the regular.
Many years ago, I watched a documentary where they interviewed prostitutes and those said that it genuinely happens a lot that dudes come to them and just want someone to talk. Some of the prostitutes were even like, fucking random strangers is less arduous than listening to a broken man lay out his life's troubles. That still sticks with me...
I can see how it's easier to fuck someone than to actively listen and (at least pretend to) empathize with them. It's easier to go without the former than the latter, as well.
Prostitutes are cheaper than therapists in America.
Only because prostitutes don't take insurance yet.
That was even a plot point in Auf Wiedersehen, Pet
Even as a man, I don't understand my fellow men's aversion to seeking the ear of a licensed therapist/mental health professional. Cost is a concern, I get that. I have health insurance that covers it, so I don't have to worry about that too much. So it's gotta be something deeper. Like an aversion to confronting oneself? I understand that. Introspection can be frightening, especially if you're encountering parts of your psyche you'd rather weren't there. Or maybe there's past trauma you'd rather not unpack. But a good therapist will be in your corner. They'll be like the healer in an RPG party, dishing out buffs and heals for you, or maybe even inflict debuffs on your inner demons.
IMO There is a deep social stigma to seeking help in general, but mental health seems to be more pronounced in how it's perceived as weakness.
You have the overt "be a man" kind of toxicity that exists but there is a more insidious undercurrent in some cultures as a whole that makes it seem equally unacceptable.
The insidious part is the subtlety and the inclusion that even talking about how you aren't supposed to talk about it considered the same kind of weakness, making it self-reinforcing.
"If you want me to stroke your hair and tell you everything's gonna be okay, that's extra."
Worth every cent.
Do I get a discount for being bald?
Where
Arse
Butters' bitches selling hugs and kisses on the playground.
Yes I know what you are saying
Prostitute: .... here's $5, now go away!
Free hugs!
What's Hugs in for?
Hugs shot JR
For freeing Hat!
You slut.
Where tho?
Free hugs… on your dick?
I expect dick hugs to be much cheaper that full-body hugs.
Years ago in Hyde Park there was a man with a Free Hugs sign. I walked up and asked, “Are you giving or receiving?” He shrugged and we hugged.
Best comment I've read in ages
Premiums hugs that I rather not give away because people are monsters, $250 for 5 seconds.
This is a real thing. Sex workers often report having clients who don't want sex but just attention (physical or otherwise).
$100.
"GFEs cost extra."
The true attention whore
For a minute I thought she had a five-o-clock shadow. Turns out my screen was dirty.
And can I pay over 6 weeks?
Both fully clothed? Double-safe hug! Smaller chance of actual skin-to-skin contact.
Keep going. Eventually the physical pain of having no human contact goes away entirely. The longing for touch becomes weird and foreign. Then nothing matters and you are free finally.
"Fuck off, Brock Turner"