http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/12/why-isnt-there-a-starbucks-for-hugs/418332/
"Samantha Hess and Becky Rodrigues are paid to hug people. Cuddlers for hire, they will hold clients close, in a platonic manner, for $60 to $80 an hour. If being held by a stranger doesn’t sound appealing, there are also platonic friends for rent. They will be happy to meet for dinner, go shopping, or just take a walk, for a fee. There are supposedly 526,873 such people available to choose from on the website RentAFriend. The average rate is $23 per hour.
...
Professional cuddlers often talk about their interest in fostering mental health, but the people who sign up as rental friends often have different reasons for doing what they do. Some do it for the money, and always charge an hourly rate. There is another subset that does it for a free ticket, says Rosenbaum. Instead of charging cash for their companionship, they accept payment in the form of a ticket to join their lonely client at a baseball game or a concert that they would otherwise not get to attend."
Gross
Are there really people on this planet so desperate that they are willing to pay to cuddle someone? Like not even paying for sex, just paying basically for a bit of hugging?
Is this entirely a market for /r9k/ or something? I honestly can't see how anyone could be so pathetic they would pay for this.
>>6088
On a side and totally unrelated note, entirely for research purposes of course, is there a market for gay snugglers? I mean this is entirely out of curiousity and I would never consider selling myself, but is there?
>>6088
considering that the people who want human contact but can't get it are regularly called desperate and pathetic by people who can, yes, there is a market for it
>>6086
tfw autism is going mainstream.
>>6086
a hooker costs less.
Just find a clean one to hug you.
>“We have this emotional reciprocity and emotional baggage attached to friends and family,” she says. “I don't have emotional history since I am a stranger, so there is no worry that I will judge them.”
Of course you won't judge them. They're paying you, you dense whore.
God dammit, I misread the title and thought it was smugglers. This is far less exciting
This is just yet another sign of the west becoming more like Japan. Soon enough we'll have our own hikikomori epidemic.
>>6086
I am repulsed by physical human contact, this sickens and confuses me.
>>6088
It's because society is full of obnoxious faggots like you that markets like these can exist.
>>6320
You're not the only one.
>>6381
Your own feelings are not the world.
>>6377
Doesn't England have a lot of NEETs?
Is this really much of a problem?As pathetic as it seems, nobody appears to be victimized by this, and a job like this seems like soft-core prostitution.
>>6165
u would not find a clean hooker on this planet for under 100
>>6452
>Human contact is a very healthy thing, even if you don't like it.
Why? I see nothing positive coming out of meeting strangers. I'll chose my friends and the rest can stay away from me.
>>6452
Isn't agoraphobia pretty normal?
>>6527
>Why?
Because apparently we are designed as social animals. Being touched by a human has your body release all sorts of beneficial stuff into itself.
>Human touch has the power to lower blood pressure and reduce the production of stress hormones. Soothing touch increases oxytocin levels, which are responsible for producing a calming effect. In situations where intense pain is involved, comforting human touch can reduce the intensity, acting as a numbing agent.
It can counteract cravings from an addiction, counteract muscle stiffness, and do lots of other things.
It is literally a miracle cure for humans because evolutionary speaking it was useful for human touch to be so helpful. By making it so important to us, we become more sociable and more willing to cooperate.
>>6528
Nowadays it is. It didn't used to be.
If you want to be touched, but dont or cant get it from non-strangers then why trust a stranger to do it?
If you have money and get out why not get a massage, a dog, or a hooker?
Asside from the elephant-man, who would do this?
>>6086
I think this is just fine. More jobs on the market, and lonely people can get the love they want.
