# Is touching co-workers OK? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 3, 2019, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-touching-co-workers-ok/833424 "2019-05-03T15:42:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 182
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2019, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-touching-co-workers-ok/833424/182 "2019-05-04T20:17:06Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > No. Not wanting to be touched except when and by whom I want to be touched is not an illness that needs to be treated. It’s an entirely reasonable human preference. So do not tell me that I need to go to a doctor and get “cured” of it. > … > True. > > Handling other people against their will by putting one’s hand on them at meetings, poking them to get attention, etc. is not assault. I don’t think anybody’s said that it is. > > …But I don’t agree that this means that the default, in most contexts, ought to be that the people who want to do the touching all get one touch each, plus however many they need to be reminded of (since if touching is considered the default, believe me, most people even with good intentions will need to be reminded). … > And I don’t think that saying this minimizes actual assault. If anything, getting across to people that touching others is not in most situations automatically permissible might reduce such assault. I… It’s pretty normal to have a mild phobia or two. Unless they are destroying your life, you rarely _need to go to a doctor and get “cured” of it._ No one is saying that, just like a mild arachnophobia isnt something you need go to a doctor and get “cured” of it. The phobia is _your_ problem, but it’s a reasonable accommodation to ask people not to touch you casually. Perfectly Ok, _a very reasonable request._ \*\*But let’s not take your mild phobia and turn it into rules that everyone else must follow. \*\* Just like a person with arachnophobia can’t demand TV stations never broadcast ads for horror or nature films with spiders in them. Not everyone has Haphephobia or arachnophobia or Ailurophobia, so those with those phobias dont get to make the whole world march to their fear. Cute kitten calendars are still Ok for the workplace. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-touching-co-workers-ok/833424)._