Willow, Venus Pirate 🏳️‍⚧️Dec 5, 2024
Okay, so I want to do a poll about skin thirst, but we’ve proven I’m actually terrible at poll design, plus I think I need to be able to sum up what skin thirsty is in like 200 characters. So! While I make dinner I’m gonna work on that in this thread, and I’m SUPER open to suggestions.
Show threadWillow, Venus Pirate 🏳️‍⚧️

Edit: poll! https://chaosfem.tw/@Willow/113626166762795325

Sample:

Do you experience skin thirst (when your skin thirsts for touch and attention in a sensual way, analogous to but distinct from being horny or sexually aroused. This is episodic - you could also but not necessarily be chronically touch starved) and/or horny?

I’m curious to know how many people are able to identify skin thirstiness as distinct from just wanting sex or just wanting casual or romantic touch. Think: “my skin is CRAVING touch from and to touch someone, in this specific moment.”

- I get skin thirsty and it’s sometimes or always fully detached from being horny, which I may or may not also get.
- I get skin thirsty and horny and these things are connected, but I can feel them as different things and while they are related, they don’t change in lockstep.
- I get horny and do not experience distinct skin thirstiness.
- I don’t get horny or skin thirsty.
- Obligatory “view results”

Willow, Venus Pirate 🏳️‍⚧️ (@[email protected])

#Boost please! #Poll about #SkinThirst and #SensualTouch! Do you experience skin thirst, defined as your skin thirsts for touch and attention in a sensual way, analogous to but distinct from being horny or sexually aroused? This is episodic - you could also but not necessarily be chronically touch starved. I’m curious to know how many people are able to identify skin thirstiness as distinct from just wanting sex or just wanting casual or romantic touch. Think: “my skin is CRAVING touch from and to touch someone, in this specific moment.” [ ] I get skin thirsty and it can be fully detached from being horny, which I may or may not also get. [ ] I get skin thirsty and horny; they are linked, but they don’t move in lockstep. [ ] I get horny and do not experience distinct skin thirstiness. [ ] I don’t get horny or skin thirsty. [ ] “View results” non-response OR “This means touch starved, i.e., I didn’t read the description.”

Chaosfem
Dec 5, 2024 at 11:33pmWeb
Show threadWillow, Venus Pirate 🏳️‍⚧️Dec 6, 2024
@alice Alice, you seem to enjoy a poll now and again. Any chance I can enlist you to help me poke at this one about skin thirstiness before I release it?
Show threadRuth O’DayDec 5, 2024

@Willow

I get horny and do not experience distinct skin thirstiness.

Show threadWillow, Venus Pirate 🏳️‍⚧️Dec 5, 2024
@RuthODay okay! Perfect. Did you follow along with my posts discussing this topic before, or was that enough on its own to feel like you could answer?
Show threadRuth O’DayDec 6, 2024

@Willow

I had no clue that skin hunger/thirst was a thing. You and some others were posting about it and I tended to just scroll over those.

So poll answers 1 and 2 didn’t apply. 3 did. 4 immediately didn’t. And 5 didn’t, I wanted to participate in the poll if I could.

Test taking technique: if you can rule out two multiple choice options, it pays to guess, even if incorrect answers are penalized.

I had missed the original post so I was puzzled why you were doing the poll in narrative form rather than using the survey tool.

Keeping form, I answered in the narrative.

Show threadWillow, Venus Pirate 🏳️‍⚧️Dec 6, 2024

@RuthODay Lovely! Yeah, it seems like folks react to it like it’s a thing? It’s a thing for me, for sure. Though I definitely consider touch starvation (chronic lack of touch) from skin thirstiness (an intense feeling of wanting to touch and be touched with focus and intent).

Thanks!

Show threadRuth O’DayDec 6, 2024

@Willow

Once you mentioned this thirst, it made sense.

One time I had an osteopath tell me that I should get a massage, partly because of the medical benefit but also because I had no one in my life and that people need touch.

Inside, I was like, “no… I’m good, actually.”

If I had a boyfriend, I would need touch. But I had a massage one time at a hotel spa and I hated it. It was kind of rough and even if it had been gentle, it would have been odd from a stranger.

But for some reason, when I’m getting my hair done, if the shampoo person starts a scalp massage, I love that.

Show threadSteph  Dec 6, 2024
@Willow skin thirsty and horny are almost completely unrelated feelings for me. Like one can lead to the other, but skin thirsty doesn't necessitate horniness. (Although horniness does necessitate skin thirst after the fact)
Show threadWillow, Venus Pirate 🏳️‍⚧️Dec 6, 2024
@PurpleStephyr Do you feel represented in the options I sketched out? Or not really?
Show threadSteph  Dec 6, 2024
@Willow I think option 1 is pretty close, ya.
Show threadElle 💗Dec 6, 2024
@Willow I've never had this. Closest I can say is having some desire to be physically close, but that's directional toward a specific person. I've also never really felt the need for touch and kind of had to learn to naturally insert touch in relationships because it does not come naturally to me.
Show threadWillow, Venus Pirate 🏳️‍⚧️Dec 6, 2024
@ellesaurus Excellent information! Thanks! I think it’s really good to hear about the full breadth of touch experiences.
Show threadElle 💗Dec 6, 2024
@Willow It's amazing how humans find a way to run the gamut of experience on virtually every little thing
Show threadMolly 🎨 (trans edition 🏳️‍⚧)Dec 6, 2024
@Willow I definitely hadn't thought of it in these terms but I definitely yearn to be touched at least some of the time. And sometimes that yearning leads to other, more intimate sorts of yearning. I think I'd lean towards 2 in this poll.
Show threadWillow, Venus Pirate 🏳️‍⚧️Dec 6, 2024
@MollyBeth Fabulous! And had you seen my other threads describing skin thirst? Or was this enough on it’s own to convey the idea/you already had an idea of what this term meant to you?
Show threadMolly 🎨 (trans edition 🏳️‍⚧)Dec 6, 2024
@Willow I've only seen this thread and I totally got what you where talking about.
Show threadWillow, Venus Pirate 🏳️‍⚧️Dec 6, 2024
@MollyBeth Yes! Excellent!
Show threadantimonyDec 6, 2024
@Willow "skin thirsty" is an interesting way to say it. Usually I hear "touch starved"
Show threadantimonyDec 6, 2024
@Willow and i definitely experience this as well, touch is important to the human species. Touch starvation is endemic especially with men in cultures where touch is frowned upon out of homophobic fears.