Platonic Touch

Attraction and affection for friends of either gender can be strictly platonic, no matter how intense a person's love for them is.  Introspection can immediately reveal this, even though one can reason it out without even partaking in a specific kind of friendship in the first place.  Touch, like affection, can be platonic, even in a world where touch might be mistaken by many to signify sexual attraction or romantic openness.  Friends eager to embrace each other and show other forms of physical affection can become very familiar with this.

Physical touch can be sexual or romantic, and it can also be platonic (even among sexual/romantic partners), but it may or may not be sensual in either case.  Touch has the power to evoke deep emotions in contexts with no connection to sexual actions or motivation.  While touch can certainly be used with flirtatious or explicitly sexual intent, it can be used to communicate emotional intimacy and personal care that has nothing to do with attraction of a different kind.

The sensual potential of the human body with regard to both its visual appearance and its capacity to give and receive physical contact can be misperceived by some.  Unless its nature is understood in light of reason, someone might conclude that there is some sexual or romantic aspect to all physical affection shared by friends of the opposite gender, even if it is minor and in the background of the relationship.  Sensuality can be experienced in sexual and nonsexual manners, and the distinction is a matter of intention.

Friends of either gender--but especially friends of the opposite gender--can use the intimacy of touch to communicate their affection in purely platonic ways.  Whether that touch is experienced or used in explicitly sensual ways is a separate matter, but there is nothing scandalous about sharing physical affection in itself.  The Western world has made great strides towards acknowledging this far more than the historical record suggests previous generations did.  There is need to affirm this for the sake of those who still confuse all touch with sexual invitation or romantic affection all the same.