ABSTRACT
Touch is the communicative medium of close encounters. The closest, most intimate encounters of all are sexual in nature. We are all acutely aware that we signal sexual interest in another person by touching them, we acknowledge our readiness for the sex act by specific kinds of touching, and we consummate a sexual relationship by limb-to-limb tactile contact. Encounters with other individuals that develop into close interpersonal relationships are hardly limited to intimate sexual contact. You will recognize without extended thought that touch plays a central role in your relational communication with such close contacts as your parents, your brothers and sisters, your good friends, and other acquaintances with whom you would like to develop close relationships. Therefore, Collier (1985) simply stressed what surely has already occurred to you when he wrote that “Touching is one of the most powerful means for establishing and maintaining social contact” (p. 27).
