I’ve been surfing through the Don’t-be-a-creep stuff recently, and one thing that comes up over and over again is unwelcome touch.

Thinking about this: in a gaming or con atmosphere, I’ve never (in my admittedly-bad memory) felt I couldn’t say “don’t touch me,” although I recall some negative reactions when I did so – because I’m a very tactile person as was often touching other people

Sideline: Have you noticed people tend to take “you did x with Y” to mean “you should do x with Me?” Very irritating.

My problem with unwelcome touch has almost always been in the workplace, where the reaction to telling people you don’t like being touched (I don’t, by strangers. I like touching my friends) is almost always hurt-offended-negative or, on rarer occasion, hurt-belittling. (I got him in trouble for that and other comments. It says something about our society that the two times I’ve done that, I felt really guilty).

How do you deal with touch in public/work situations? Why do people think it’s okay?

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