girls hugging guys around the neck: sexual intimacy???

[binary suns]

There's Apparently a Reason Why Girls Hug Guys Around the Neck, and This Is News to Us (msn.com)

 

Quote

When the Twitter account Everything Out of Context posted a screenshot of a girl with text reading "Wait until guys find out why girls hug them over the shoulders," the Twitterverse started racking its noggin. What does this mean? Are girls hugging guys over the shoulder for a particular reason?

Many brave users admitted that they simply did not know why females chose to do that. "As a woman, I want to know," wrote one user. Another female said, "Because anything under the shoulders is sweaty, I guess."

Even men tried to take a stab at the answer: "To avoid staining his shirt with makeup/foundation..?"

But sadly, none of these answers were correct. And after going down a rabbit hole and watching lots of TikToks, I've finally learned the reason why many females intentionally hug like that, and it's pretty bold.

It's also worth noting that all of the TikToks regarding this type of hug do have one thing in common: They belong to Gen Z creators.

While I can't speak for all millennials and the generations before, this definitely seems to be an inside joke exclusive to Gen Z. However, I'm sure we've all hugged someone like this not even realizing our body language.

Let's talk about it.

 

Yes, there's a reason why girls hug guys with their arms around his neck.
Believe it or not, girls like to hug boys that way because it brings their bodies together in an intimate way. As one Twitter user wrote: "Genitalia Alignment."

And while that may sound like a bogus answer, it is true that when you hug someone like that, your bodies are touching in some pretty vulnerable places. You see, when a girl wraps her arms around a guy's neck, this allows her to stand on her tippy toes to make her private parts potentially line up with a guy's private parts (assuming he is taller).

 

As TikToker Leighton Whyte (@leightonwhyte) further explains in the video below, "If she goes in for one of these hugs that go around your neck like this" — he demonstrates the embrace with a female counterpart — "everything is exposed. That means she likes you, bro."

He also demonstrates how if a girl hugs a guy from the side, she only thinks of him as a friend. And if she puts her arms under his armpits and rocks him back and forth, she either thinks of the guy as a brother or low-key likes him.

However, it seems the spiciest hug a girl can give is when she puts her arms around a guy's neck.

 

this is,... strange to me. lol.... 

 

what do you think?

[Lord Jade Cross]

Obviously, the guy is going to go to the neck olympics and the girl is helping him train 

 

[Blackfire Dragon]

I see the logic, but I'm not convinced. That kind of embrace is typically preceded and followed by firm eye contact, which itself can be intimate; this is "mutual gazing," something known to be important as far back as infancy and considered a form of bonding. It's commonly observed when a parent feeds a baby, but can also be observed when people are dating. A girl reaching up to put her arms around a guy's neck, and him bending down to accommodate, makes eye contact easier.

 

But that's not as exciting as "genital alignment," I guess.

 

Speaking of which, isn't anyone's genitals touching anyone else's body at any location some degree of sexual intimacy that could imply a desire for sex? I mean, it seems like the most coincidental contact with genitals is generally considered sexual in nature, simply by virtue of genitals being genitals, and followed by rapid, humiliated apologies from the offending party (unless titillation was the goal). Hell, if some poor SOB develops an erection for no reason, every woman/teenage girl in his vicinity who sees it (forget physical contact) thinks he wants sex. Why reinforce the stereotype that girls have to/should be coy and drop hints by claiming that girls/women engage in stealth genital-alignment embraces just to convey their interest when they could actually jump on the guy and wrap their legs around his waist, which is infinitely more like the "genital alignment" necessary for intercourse?

 

I feel like this is another example of the hypersexualization of human behavior that ends up perpetuating the lie that men and women can't just be friends.

[ThePapercraftingCat]

I'm a gen z woman and I'm confused. I would have thought that it was just another form of showing affection towards your partner. Mind you I am asexual, so my thoughts don't immediately go to 'that means I want sex because I'm hugging you like this.' Sometimes a hug is just a hug. 

1 hour ago, Blackfire Dragon said:

I feel like this is another example of the hypersexualization of human behavior that ends up perpetuating the lie that men and women can't just be friends.

Yes! Why does everything in a relationship have to be sexual? It can't be purely romantic or platonic according to society. I notice that a lot of jokes in sitcoms and comedy films come from men and women 'being friends.' 

[rebis]

Oh, FFS. I mean, I can't at all speak for Gen Z, except to say it's entirely possible to think you are "figuring out" some coded behavior that is really not anything new from the way people have always behaved. 

 

It doesn't take a genius to figure out someone *pressing her groin into yours" might be intended to communicate sexual interest.  That is absolutely not the same thing as someone putting their arms around your neck for a hug.

[Eutierria]

5 hours ago, binary suns said:

what do you think?

I suspect it may depend on the people involved (?)

 

Your post has made me realise something though - I've been thinking about the way I hug & I do have a tendency to lean in at the top & face my bottom half of the body to the side or away, side hug or do a lopsided Y-shaped hug. 

 

It's rare for me to give an around the neck hug. The only time I've allowed someone to press-hug me from top to toe was with a significant other who is now an ex. 

 

It's only sexual if the intention was for it to lead that way but in general, at least for me, it might be a comfort & height difference thing (?) 

 

 

[binary suns]

I must confess I've never been hugged or hugges someone with an around the neck hug. I wasn't really sold on the genital allignment bit, but the eye contact bit seems very nice

[Snao Cone]

It is very dangerous to put a message out there saying "if a woman does this, it's because she wants to have sex with you"

[Picklethewickle]

That was the stupidest thing I've ever read. Thank you for sharing, because it made me laugh. It is unfortunate though, that some people would actually buy that explanation. 

[RoseGoesToYale]

The "article" wasn't written by Microsoft, but by a content mill named Distractify. Content mills don't care about disseminating accurate information or real news, only generating viral content.

 

Sounds like it was made up by the same rando who invented the whole "sexual polarity green line test".

[BigBassFox]

I'm a sex repulsed asexual and I hug my boyfriend around the neck because it's just a form of affection that I'm comfortable with.

[EmeraldIce]

I feel like you notice the genital contact after you hug. You don't hug with the intent to touch genitals.

 

In fact, I'd say sometimes women hug above the shoulders for quite the opposite reason. Personally, I perceive a hug over the shoulders as inherently less sexual because there's less of a chance of your face burying into their chest and your hands wandering to their butt. Not that I'd ever initiate a hug with any guy but someone I'm in a relationship with, though.

[BigBassFox]

13 hours ago, binary suns said:

As TikToker Leighton Whyte (@leightonwhyte) further explains in the video below, "If she goes in for one of these hugs that go around your neck like this" — he demonstrates the embrace with a female counterpart — "everything is exposed. That means she likes you, bro."

He also demonstrates how if a girl hugs a guy from the side, she only thinks of him as a friend. And if she puts her arms under his armpits and rocks him back and forth, she either thinks of the guy as a brother or low-key likes him.

However, it seems the spiciest hug a girl can give is when she puts her arms around a guy's neck.

I'm sorry, but I never trust a guy to say what every woman wants out of an act of affection. 

[AspieAlly613]

5 hours ago, Picklethewickle said:

That was the stupidest thing I've ever read. Thank you for sharing, because it made me laugh. It is unfortunate though, that some people would actually buy that explanation. 

I envy you for not reading anything even dumber.

[Ceebs]

What.

 

Fuck's sake.

 

I guess I can't speak for anyone else, but if I'm trying to get sexy during a hug, I'm going to actively press that area of my body against my partner, or perhaps press my thigh kind of between his legs. Not just vaguely align my junk with his junk. My arms have bugger all to do with it and I don't think that's solely because he's only a few inches taller than me (we're both short as hell).

[Philip027]

Stop overexamining hugs; it makes you look like a creeper.

 

(This is a general statement, not directed to anyone in particular)

[R_1]

My thoughts:

 

1) Hugs are only sexual if it is made out to be sexual.

2) Please don't intentionally make your hugs sexual to another person if you don't know that person consent to it.

 

That's pretty much it.

[Squirrel Combat]

I feel like it's a little more nuanced than that. I haven't hugged terribly many women (or at least most didn't stand out and I can't remember them) but I have been hugged by women not at the neck, but there had been a clear mutual attraction between us. Now, those women were Ace too, so not thrusting lady parts on me makes sense, as it wouldn't occur to me to do that either. 

 

Or maybe I'm that naive and they actually weren't THAT into me. 🙃😵☹️

[Theoryal]

On 7/7/2023 at 1:02 AM, Blackfire Dragon said:

I see the logic, but I'm not convinced.

. . .

 

I feel like this is another example of the hypersexualization of human behavior that ends up perpetuating the lie that men and women can't just be friends.

Exactly my thoughts. 

 

Another componant in choice of hug style could be that when you are shorter/smaller/less heafty and you put your arms around someone Under their arms, it can end up a bit smothering, like your face is smashed in their chest, or in their armpit which is super awkward, their arms around your shoulders kind of pins your arms and gives you less control of getting out of the situation, and the person with arms on top tends to put some of their weight on the other person so if the heavier person is leaning in onto the smaller person it can be unstable or uncomfortable.  Thus the smaller person putting their arms on top seems a more sensible choice - from my experience.   

[Purple Red Panda]

 I've just started seeing someone and I naturally hug her by putting my arms around her neck, it just seems more intimate somehow. I'm either a trans woman or leaning very heavily towards the female end of the gender spectrum, this is stuff I'm still working out 🙂