Touch Maps
Oct. 28th, 2015 04:47 amThis article discusses where men and women feel comfortable being touched by different people.
I could see this kind of map being very useful on badges under specific circumstances:
* at a play party
* at a cuddle party
* during trustbuilding workshops
* for anyone whose body is so unusual that people keep wanting to handle it
Social guidelines can provide a helpful map in general, but not a specific individual's permission. It's particularly convenient because the coloring is bifocal: a range of green to red for comfortable-uncomfortable, then black for taboo. Anything in color is potentially negotiable or at least discussable. Black means you don't touch it and you don't ask about touching it either.
I could see this being really useful for autistic people who have a hard time parsing body language and social rules. Here is a picture that shows you the lines other people just know in their heads and scream you for not knowing even though they refuse to tell you if you just ask. While there can be a lot of individual variation, a good general map is a hell of a lot better than nothing. Or never touching other people because that pisses them off too. Yay info!
Similarly it would be very handy for people whose superpowers make touch unpleasant, hazardous, or way more intimate than expected. People like Ashley who sweat venom. People with hypersensitive touch. People who absorb food through their skin. Touch-telepaths, or really, most touch-activated superpowers. People with wings, horns, tails, or any other body part not part of standard human equipment OMFG stop groping that stuff. Most crayon soups, whether it's their skin or their hair that's unusual in color. Many soups want not to be touched by strangers, especially without permission. But there's always a few who are really flexible about it, who have an open-source body. People go apeshit objecting to "open-source boobs," "yes you can touch my hair," "free hugs," and a whole range of other line-crossing activities. Eh, it's your body, you can do what you want with it. Communication is good. Illustrations can be a lot less embarrassing than words.
I could see this kind of map being very useful on badges under specific circumstances:
* at a play party
* at a cuddle party
* during trustbuilding workshops
* for anyone whose body is so unusual that people keep wanting to handle it
Social guidelines can provide a helpful map in general, but not a specific individual's permission. It's particularly convenient because the coloring is bifocal: a range of green to red for comfortable-uncomfortable, then black for taboo. Anything in color is potentially negotiable or at least discussable. Black means you don't touch it and you don't ask about touching it either.
I could see this being really useful for autistic people who have a hard time parsing body language and social rules. Here is a picture that shows you the lines other people just know in their heads and scream you for not knowing even though they refuse to tell you if you just ask. While there can be a lot of individual variation, a good general map is a hell of a lot better than nothing. Or never touching other people because that pisses them off too. Yay info!
Similarly it would be very handy for people whose superpowers make touch unpleasant, hazardous, or way more intimate than expected. People like Ashley who sweat venom. People with hypersensitive touch. People who absorb food through their skin. Touch-telepaths, or really, most touch-activated superpowers. People with wings, horns, tails, or any other body part not part of standard human equipment OMFG stop groping that stuff. Most crayon soups, whether it's their skin or their hair that's unusual in color. Many soups want not to be touched by strangers, especially without permission. But there's always a few who are really flexible about it, who have an open-source body. People go apeshit objecting to "open-source boobs," "yes you can touch my hair," "free hugs," and a whole range of other line-crossing activities. Eh, it's your body, you can do what you want with it. Communication is good. Illustrations can be a lot less embarrassing than words.