Physical touch is one of the five love languages, and it refers to expressing and receiving affection through touch, physical closeness, and other forms of physical connection. Kissing, hugging, holding hands, and sex are all ways of showing love through the physical touch love language.
Not just sex, even a non-sexual touch is something that can make them go crazy. Cuddling, hugging from behind, playing with their hair or touching their neck gives them a feeling of being loved. All these actions give them a sense of attachment, passion and care which every guy loves.
Physical contact of a non-sexual nature — the hugs and squeezes, the handholding, the random touches — can be an effective pathway for maintaining intimacy, with its many benefits.
Physical touch is not a rare love language. In contrast, it is one of the most popular ones, with a lot of people self-identifying as having it in their top two love languages (Orth & Sanders, 2022). That being said, it is essential to note that everyone is different.
Types of Physical Flirting
Touching is a powerful way to communicate your attraction to someone and can help build a sense of intimacy between you. Flirty touching can range from a subtle light touch on the arm to a more intimate embrace.
If you ask any man off the street what his love language is, chances are that he will tell you it's physical touch. That may be true and it may not be—as Dr. Gary Chapman explains in The Five Love Languages, many men interpret their desire for sex to be an indication of physical touch as their love language.
Men who are attracted to you might even engage in more touch. If a man actively tries to touch you during your interaction, it may mean he wants to get closer to you or close the distance between you two.
In addition to making sex and physical touch priorities in your relationship, there are many ways to have more romantic sex too, such as making use of eye gazing, kissing, and more intimate sex positions with your partner.
Rubbing your partner's back, or massaging them, can signal to them that you're there for them and that you love them. You can also rub their arm, their hand, or another part of the body. Just make sure you're communicating with your partner and making sure they are comfortable with it.
Appreciation, infatuation, attraction, impression, and conviction are the 5 bonding stages for a man.
Physical attraction, sexual compatibility, empathy, and emotional connection are key to making a man fall in love with a woman.
The highest level of intimacy, requires the greatest amount of trust in our relationship. It is only when we feel truly safe with somebody, that we become willing to share the deepest core of who we are. It's up close and personal.
3) Unconditional Intimacy
This is the most complete of intimacies which involves the total acceptance of another person, warts and all. Although they are never free of conflict or ill-feelings, unconditional intimacy is seen in its purest form between a parent and their children.
Agape — Selfless Love. Agape is the highest level of love to offer. It's given without any expectations of receiving anything in return. Offering Agape is a decision to spread love in any circumstances — including destructive situations.
Touch is the quickest way to build attraction. In fact, it is arguably the only way to build a real sexual attraction. It is how you say you're attracted to someone without saying it. Touching to build attraction is an art form.
This one is probably a no-brainer; when someone is attracted to you, they want to touch you. Touch releases the bonding hormone oxytocin. So, it is an instinctive way of trying to strengthen your connection. Like touch, eye contact triggers the release of oxytocin.
Men Need Love and Affection
In plain language: Men often feel most loved by the women in their lives when their partners hug them, kiss them, smile at them, and explicitly offer gratitude, praise, and words of affection. Men also feel loved and connected through sexuality, often to a greater degree than women do.
“When we experience physical touch, we release certain hormones and neurotransmitters such as oxytocin, serotonin, and dopamine,” says Pataky. And these hormones make us feel good. Like, good good. Unsurprisingly, these have been dubbed the love and cuddle hormones, respectively.
Hugging and other forms of nonsexual touching cause your brain to release oxytocin, known as the "bonding hormone." This stimulates the release of other feel-good hormones, such as dopamine and serotonin, while reducing stress hormones, such as cortisol and norepinephrine.
The two least preferred love languages are acts of service (ranked first by 13% of people) and receiving gifts (7%). Younger men and women were more likely to prefer gifts than older men and women. We also asked people in serious relationships to guess what their partner's preferred love language is.
Acts of service is the rarest form of love language.
People who thrive off this love language will feel most loved when their partner does something for them, (preferably without being asked).
Of the five love languages identified by marriage counselor Gary Chapman, Ph. D., perhaps the most misunderstood is the love language of giving gifts.
Level One: Safe Communication
This is the kind of interaction we have with people we don't know well. It's the chitchat we share with the clerk at the grocery store or a stranger at a party. People communicating at this level share minimal intimacy.