Why Americans pay for hugs

Inside the cuddle party industry

Hugging.
(Image credit: cienpies/iStock)

Apocalyptic fires. Mass shootings. An executive branch of government demonizing immigrants and hobnobbing with dictators. Lately it feels like our nation gets scarier by the week.

So I wasn't surprised to learn there's a cuddling trend sweeping the nation; sometimes jammying up, burrowing into a blankie, and going full-frickin'-fetal is the only way to cope with reality. But some folks aren't just curling up on the couch — they're snuggling up to strangers at "cuddle parties." And they're paying for it.

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Starshine Roshell

Starshine Roshell is a veteran journalist and award-winning columnist whose work has appeared in The Hollywood Reporter, New York Post and Westways magazine. She is the author of Keep Your Skirt On, Wife on the Edge and Broad Assumptions.