Differential reaction to touch by men and women.

An experimenter placed biofeedback electrodes on seven different locations of each subject's body. The electrodes were held in place by the experimenter for 2 min. (at each location) after which the subject rated his or her degree of comfort-relaxation. A three-factor design was employed in which the variables were touch type (hand top, forearm top and bottom, upperarm top and bottom, shoulder, back), sex of subject, and sex of experimenter. It was assumed that males would react more adversely to same-sex touch than would females when the type of touch was typical of female-female interactions (hand or arm touch) but not when the touch was typical of male-male interactions (shoulder or back touch). Results were consistent with expectations.