In what you might take to be scene from “Portlandia,” my friend R. Tod Kelly went to CuddleCon 2015, the first ever cuddling convention. He reports on the sad, strange world of professional cuddling for The Daily Beast:
Professional cuddling, if by chance it has yet to cross your radar screen, is exactly what it sounds like. People hire themselves out for cuddling sessions with clients, usually for between $60-80 dollars an hour. And before you roll your eyes, know this: business is booming.
As you might expect, the business has its dangers: at-risk clientele and untrained paid cuddlers, to name a couple. Also not surprising, the cuddling sessions can create the illusion of a romantic connection between clientele and the “professionals,” a bond the client desires and the paid cuddler doesn’t. Leah Libresco noted the same phenomenon back in September, writing here at Patheos about the Cuddling App:
Cuddling has certain purely physical pleasures (the kinds that a squeeze box can substitute for), but part of the reason we want to be touched is probably because it means we are intimate with/trusted by someone. Cuddling is desired because it’s a proxy variable for a certain kind of emotional connection.
But, humans have a really easy time mistaking proxy variables for the things they’re supposed to approximate, even if the two variables have become disconnected.
Is this all a fad that will be gone before the preparations begin for CuddleCon 2017? I wouldn’t count on it. We crave touch and intimacy, and if a niche business like professional cuddling is booming now, these are needs that are not being met elsewhere. Tapping our tech isn’t cutting it.
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