Are You Hugger ?

phoenix How would they know it was you with your pseudonym? Why don't you change your name on here?

I am very touchy feely and we were a demonstrative family but I would never hug someone I didn't know well .I'm not keen on air kissing either

I do remember future FIL being a little disconcerted when I went to hug/kiss him goodbye after a Christmas visit (I'd known him over a year and it was obvious by then that DH and I would marry ) I know he really liked me and I dont think he minded but it was definitely a shock .Demonstrative was not a word I would have applied to that family
I also remember going to stay with a new university friend's family in London .Her mother (a missionary)greeted me with a hug which I didn't like at all .I 'd know my friend only three months
I might put an arm round the shoulder of an acquaintance or even a stranger who was obviously upset but otherwise...
I have a lot of friends whom I see rarely and I have noticed we do now hug on departure .I think because we are getting older and realise how precious we are to each other Not something one tends to say ....

I loathe being hugged and having had some really horrible life shocks, being grabbed and squeezed by people does not help at all.

so pleased that so many grans are not happy about being hugged. Until the last few years no-one I knew was a hugger. I feel that one person in a group to which I belong (someone I regard as a friend) thinks I need to be encouraged to become a hugger and will sometimes say 'Let's all have a hug'. I think she once indicated (not in an unpleasant way) that I am not a hugger It can be divisive, too. If some people are hugged in a group and not others, one can feel an outsider. Some people hug and air kiss our Minister after church, I find this divisive. My family never hugged but as a child I kissed my parents goodbye when going out.

I rarely hug my DDs..we see each other very often so maybe different if we saw each other less so. I do hug DGC more often but not as a matter of course..depends on everyone's mood.

With good friends, whilst we do kiss, we usually only hug at special times. I am not a natural 'hug any aquaintance' person but have often been hugged by folk I do not know well.

Hugging is supposed to be very good for you! Maybe I need to do more of it!

I love a hug!

I'm not usually a hugger, I don't think I've hugged my children since they were about 10 and of course the GSs only hug me if they want to. But I do always hug my best friend when we meet, she is having an awful time and needs all the moral support she can get. I hugged a friend whose grown up son had died on holiday because there were no words that would help. I hug a young friend who has survived cancer 4 times now and I'm just so glad she's still here.

I may be imagining it, but it seems, judging from what I see on TV, that men are more into hugging on first meeting than women. I really don't get hugging people that you don't know, without very good reason. I tend to reserve hugs for family and close friends.

I love a hug from my close family & very close friends. An-one else it depends on the situation & who it is

"Familiarity breeds contempt" - and it does.

Apart from which, isn't ANY uncalled for or unwanted deliberate physical contact a form of assault?

No I'm not a hugger though I do respond to close friends who are huggers. I'm not a touchy feely type of person though that said I like to give my GC the odd hug to show that I'm not always Grumpy! When it's appropriate I also hug DD and DS but not on a regular basis. It seems to be fashionable these days though as is mwah mwah kissing which I absolutely loathe.

How do you avoid of a hug? When someone you are not particularly fond of, approaches you with arms outstretched, what do you do? I always think, oh gawd here we go, and feel very uncomfortable.
Even worse are the men in a group who want to grab your shoulders and kiss on both cheeks ugh go away please.
Of course. It's completely different with people I'm close to, and family, I'm not completely frigid (if that's the word!)

A pet hate for me is the two-cheek kissing in social or even worse professional situations. If women really want to be considered equal we should avoid men who bear down on us with their mouths and shake their hand instead. we have been bullied into this behaviour as if socially essential - let's stand up for ourselves. I always think it spreads colds too.