How very touching

I first experienced massage (strictly non-sexual, I should add) when I was a rather, er, trigger-happy teenager.


The sensation of another human touching and stroking me was almost overwhelming.


Alas, things never quite got this far except in my fantasies (me doing my best to conceal my, er, arousal -- I seem to remember I thought my pleasure might be vaguely insulting to the professional...):


Nonetheless, I filed away in my head some sort of iron rule that massage=sexual arousal (although perhaps I didn't quite make the association as crude as this):


I have been aware for a long time of the somewhat tawdry associations surrounding the phrase "massage parlour", and how often those operations were a cover for something rather more salacious.


But that's missing the point: intellectually (or perhaps I mean viscerally) I had already decided that massage was sexual, so it was only through a heavy fog of irony that I could perceive the idea that massage parlours could be "legitimate" (sic).


Over the years, various manipulations by osteopaths and chiropractors, or massages given by physical therapists, or even shampoos given by hairdressers' assistants -- all have only confirmed to me the primal importance and meaning of this sort of touching.


We deny it, of course, but stroking and touching -- grooming, if you will -- is one of the most important bonding processes that humans (or any primates) possess.

That doesn't mean all massages (or, indeed, shampoos) have to end up here:


But perhaps we shouldn't be quite so surprised when they do.