mungojelly @mungojelly@octodon.social

there's this whole hugely relevant history of how to express friendly affection in words from letter writing but we don't connect it to now just because it was on paper, somehow all we remember from then is that paper is magic

#skin https://octodon.social/media/OdgSqaVdJejmV9IRK5Y

there's something very strange about how people try to translate non-sexual affection into text online, like.. what's with just saying *hug* with stars around it, that's kinda weird, is that like.. supposed to work?? i mean you don't have cybersex by just saying *sex* with asterisks around it

whenever cuddling with friends comes up it becomes clear there's very different practices in different circles and different cultures, and also it's clear that since we rarely talk about it, mostly everyone assumes the way their circle in their culture does it is the norm #affectionatetouch #cuddling

mostly people who don't get enough affectionate touch feel like it's a personal failing rather than blaming society for denying them touch

i can understand that maybe most affectionate people don't have much to say about it, that makes sense, that's fine, but come on it's a whole internet there must be somebody other than me who both likes touch and has something to say about it

there just somehow hasn't ever been a catalyst that's brought people together on the internet to talk about touch... Free Hugs was the biggest meme so far about touch, and the tag #freehugs is still kinda active with people doing that same meme, but no conversation or group identity or forward motion

@ThorGoLucky hi! i see you have "snuggle" in your profile... do you know any active tags about affection?? i know furries are a relatively affectionate culture, are there any hashtags about that <3

one of the only searches that does find lots of content about how people feel about affectionate touch is "touch starved", unfortunately.. lots of posts about how people don't know how to connect with people they'd feel comfortable touching

what i'd like to talk about is non-sexual affectionate touch!! but there's no hashtags for that are there?? no one uses #affectionatetouch ... someone invented once the term "affectionado" from "affection aficionado", i like that, but nobody knows that to search for #affectionado ... you're all being very friendly and welcoming here but i still feel lonely, my people have no hashtag

hi i'm https://social.targaryen.house/@mungojelly and https://anticapitalist.party/@mungojelly but lots of people who seemed cool it said they're on octodon.social so i made an account here so i can also be cool what's an octodon anyway oh ok it's a rodent they're cute!!