Interesting. As I stated in the title, yes I'm a bit of a germaphobe (not to mention I have major trust issues), so I was *not* one of the people giving the free hugs and I just stuck to the interviews. So, Labby, I totally understand where you are coming from. I might support it, but I would not accept a free hug.
Appearance did make a big difference. So did race and gender. We had one guy dressed up in his old boy scout/eagle scout costume, and he said he mostly got hugs from older ladies (and a few creepy men). One girl was all tatted up and not really dressed nicely, but still received more hugs than any of the men. One girl (shocker here :rolleyes: ) got about 53 hugs, which was the most out of anyone. The guy in my group, although he was dressed in his culinary uniform, only got nine hugs, because he was a male and likely because he was African American. (And he's one of the friendliest guys I know, too!)
The thing that I found most surprising was in the interviews afterwards. Most of the women who gave hugs stated that they did so because it seemed like the guy was sweet or that it was a nice idea. The surprising part was that they said it didn't matter whether it was a guy or girl giving the hugs, whereas a lot of the men said that they'd hug a girl, but would never hug a guy, because it would feel too threatening. (I had figured that it would be harder for a woman to hug a guy because it would feel threatening or intimidating.) Instead, sometimes the men would fistbump the guy hugger, to show support but still stay distant.
Some people though hugged because they really needed it. The professor reminded us to keep things light, but take it seriously for that exact reason. One guy had a woman come up and hug him who afterwards said she did it because she wanted to feel safe in the arms of a man again (she had been abused in the past). A guy came up and hugged someone because he said his younger brother was killed the night before and he really needed the comfort. Seriously. We met with some pretty intense stuff yesterday, along with the casual, and all around it was an interesting experience. Next time I see someone with a free hug sign, I'm going to *try* (as a therapeutic process, maybe) to give a hug... or at least show support in some way. It's a better idea than I thought it would be.
