hey, lynn!

[piranha]

i just came across this: http://cuddleparty.com/ and thought it sounded like just the thing for you.

Comments

[firecat]

there was a general criticism on list of the notion of paying that much money to attend a cuddle party. one of the organizers did a pretty good job of negotiating her way through all the criticism. another organizer, her mentor i think, came onlist briefly and tried to get all authoritative, and that didn't go over well.

there are a number of people on that list who are quick to criticize any group where people are paying to learn something about intimacy, including HAI.

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

*nod*. i didn't even check how much the parties are. huh. i couldn't find it easily on the site, maybe i overlooked it -- but in the nerve.com review it said $20. that's certainly not cheap, but also not onerously expensive for 3.5 hours of self-discovery or just comfortable closeness, o,plus apparently some snack food and non-alkie beverages. so a party host makes 200-400 bucks per party, minus some outlay for provisions. i don't see anyone getting rich off this.

are those people also opposed to paying for counseling?

[firecat]

Oh, now I remember something else the list criticized - the gender balance requirement.

The list now has a "classifieds" sublist, which somewhat seems to take care of the complaints about kinda-off-topic costs-money workshop posts. The complaining was initially directed at frequent posts about tantra workshops, especially those that made a point of mentioning "couples".

I agree that cuddle parties appear not to be unreasonably priced, especially compared to other similar workshops/events.

I queried the facilitator about whether people my size ever come to them. She basically said "not really" and offered me free admission. I appreciated the honesty and decided not to go.

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

yeah, the gender balance thing stuck out at me right away, and that sort of thing always make me suspicious. i wonder whether it's just a thinly disguised "hey, you het folk could make a love connection here", since most of their clients seem to also be singles, or whether there is some thinking behind it that otherwise they'd get a lot of touch-hungry men and if the ratio isn't approximately 1:1 then the women would feel overwhelmed and the energy of the event would change. or something entirely different -- if i actually thought of attending one, i'd ask, but as it is, i'm not curious enough. and i am completely not tempted, *heh*; if anything, i require less touch than most people i know -- but i thought it was in principle a really neat idea, since a lot of people are touch-deprived, and don't know how to ask for it, nor have the opportunity to explore their own and other's boundaries in a safe way.

interesting about the size thing. the TV clips didn't make it look like there were only thin people there, or only those of the "beautiful" set; i saw several plump ones -- but yeah, alt.polycons, frex, seem to me to be much more over the map size-wise. what i liked best about the clips was the atmosphere in the room -- it really felt like a slumber party with close friends who're all touchy-feely. i like that sort of energy, even if i would likely be at the outer fringes at such an actual event.

[firecat]

When I'm touch-deprived, strangers touching me doesn't seem to be what I want.

I'm bigger than "plump".

I think overall it's a good thing, even if not for me. I think it can't be bad that people are getting more of an opportunity to decide cuddling is OK and not necessarily all about sex. And this seems like a more welcoming forum than SF cons and polycons, which are for people with specific interests, or HAI workshops, which are more expensive and also more mysterious about what exactly goes on.