Dealing with displays of affection

How do you react when someone shows you affection?

I generally cringe and feel very uncomfortable unless I have made an affectionate gesture first and its in response to that.

Is your response rooted in self-hatred?

It just doesn't do anything for me.

I don't like when people touch my face. That makes me cringe. Otherwise i just take affection as a note that the other person has feelings for me.

I don't care for affection. It does nothing for me. It's always been that way. When I was a kid I don't remember ever wanting to hug anyone. That hasn't changed. No other forms of affection interest me either.

With that said though, I don't mind giving my daughter a hug occasionally, but even that can feel a bit awkward because there's usually no emotion attached to it.

Nothing strange on the surface but when someone is too affectionate I can get a little paranoid, as in I start thinking they’re faking it.

KvotheTheRaven wrote:How do you react when someone shows you affection?

I generally cringe and feel very uncomfortable unless I have made an affectionate gesture first and its in response to that.

Same. If I can manage to fart, that works too.

Siegfried wrote:Is your response rooted in self-hatred?

It's actually not all that uncommon a reaction.

naps wrote:It's actually not all that uncommon a reaction.

Neither is self-hatred.

Why would you cringe and feel uncomfortable by such a display if you didn't at some level feel dissatisfied with yourself? Especially considering the nature of this forum and the people (women) it attracts. The neutral response is apathy, or positivity.

My daughter is affectionate towards me and people at my work seem to enjoy going in for the hug...

I think I deal with it quite well but to them its probably like hugging a plank of wood...

It because I don't feel anything so the best I can do is to fake it but I never instigate a hug at all...its just not me.

I like signs of affection... From women

Sex is great but I don't feel affectionate with that...its more of an expression of a different kind.