Feelin’ like you want a li’l snuggle? There’s an app for that. Newly debuted,
is a cross between Grindr and Tinder, only in this case, its sole purpose is to link up users who are looking for a quick platonic cuddle in a private or public place.
Cuddlr connects you with new people in your immediate area who are up for a cuddle…Once you and the other party agree to cuddle, the app helps you find each other, and the rest is up to preference and communication. For each user, the app shows a tally of how many successful cuddles they have had already: the more someone has been vetted by other users, the more likely they are to be good at cuddling, communication, and respecting boundaries.
Discussing the motivation for Cuddlr, Williams goes on to discuss how, despite his continued cravings for it, access to platonic touching became more and more limited as he got older.
“I’ve experienced the gradual dropping away of physical affection from same-sex friends as homophobia and awkwardness sets in, and as that same energy is refocused toward dating and relationships,” he explains. “…We need to delve deeper, to go beyond rejecting cliché and start actually challenging the ways we interact (or the ways we don’t feel we are allowed to interact).”
Cuddlr is his version of a challenge. In fact, profiles (which do include names and photos) do not provide ages or genders.
“You’re not dating, you’re cuddling,” Williams told Salon’s Tracy Clark-Flory. “So the goal is to remove unnecessary information so that you can decide ‘do I want to cuddle this person?’ and then, if so, meet them in person.”
Yeah, but won’t people just end up trying to fuck each other?
Cuddling takes communication, respect for boundaries, and self-control. Some people will, of course, want to do more than cuddle. What we state in the app’s “Rules of the Road” is that you wait until the end of the cuddle, ask nicely, and be prepared to take either “yes” or “no” as an answer. Keep your cuddle a cuddle, don’t try to “change gears” midway through. And certainly don’t use this app to pick people up. Sex is a great thing too, but there are other apps for that. Use those ones if that’s what you’re looking for. Use Cuddlr when you want to hold and be held, to feel like all is right with the world, and to have a simple connection without expectation.
So handjobs only then.
