Touch, sweet touch. It’s something we all want to feel… and something that is pretty strictly controlled at a strip club. If you cross certain lines, the ladies of a strip club will let you know. They will also let security know, and you will find yourself outside of the club in a hurry. However, for people who are looking for physical contact that isn’t quite what a lap dance brings, there are people who offer this service. Professional cuddling is a very real thing provided by Seeking Cuddles, a company new to the City of Sin.
It’s out of place in one sense, and in another it is more than at home. This is the city where, when you visit any of the big hotels, you get a brochure. This brochure advertises just about everything you can imagine. Looking for a strip club like the Palomino? You will find what you’re looking for. Looking for casinos outside of the hotel you’re staying at? They’re in there. Escort services? Of course, and they even tell you what sort of escort you can hire from that service! In all honesty, professional cuddling probably sits well in that same brochure.
How professional cuddling works
According the Seeking Cuddles website, cuddling “increases relaxation, lowers stress and depression. Lowers anxiety, blood pressure, heart rate, PTSD, and improves sleep.”
Now, the obvious joke is that sex can also help with these things. Maybe not the heart rate, at least not during the act. And PTSD is serious business, something that no joke or touch of any sort can easily address.
As hard as it might be to believe coming from a strip club blog, what some people need isn’t always sex. Even great, world-shaking sex.
That’s what professional cuddling is getting at. Sometimes, someone just needs someone else to be with. A gentle hug, a light caress. An ear opened to your ideas, interests, and concerns. Not everyone has a significant other to share a bed or couch with, but most people do seek some kind of physical or emotional connection of some kind.
Besides, the right kind of touch can feel great, even outside of sex.
Who even wants this?
More people than ever, according to Rolling Stone. Since 2012, the good word of professional cuddling has been getting passed around the country. In the aftermath of the 2016 elections, the world of pro-cuddles has seen a huge surge of interest from people who just want feel like everything is going to be okay.
There is some, uh, stigma attached to the pro-cuddle circuit, something that the professionals themselves have to deal with. There are clear boundaries they have to establish, rules about what sort of touching is and isn’t allowed. Something that ladies in VIP rooms all around Las Vegas have some familiarity with.
Still, despite the specific limitations to professional cuddling, there’s a pretty clear interest in what it provides.
What does a Las Vegas stripper think about pro-cuddles?
“It’s kinda like what we do, but not sexy,” says one of our ladies. “At the same time, it can be kinda sexy. Like, it can get really suggestive when you’re that close to anyone.”
Which, as you might expect, can be a problem when someone’s getting handsy in the wrong way.
“I think I’d want someone to back me up if I need it,” says another girl. “Most customers I deal with understand the rules, but there’s always the danger ofย one that doesn’t. I have people I can rely on here, I don’t think these cuddle people always do.”
“Are there rules about a cuddler getting asked out on a date?” asked a third dancer. “I mean what if they are really good and stuff?”
Innocent curiosity, we’re sure. And stuff.