Pease, Allan and Barbara - Why men don't listen and women can't ...

antipathy of a touchy-feely race, love their pets. As
Germaine Greer said, 'Even crushed against his brother
in the Tube the average Englishman pretends desperately
that he is alone. '
Women Are Touchy-Feely
The skin is the largest organ in the body, measuring
around two square metres. Distributed unevenly across
it are 2, 800, 000 receptors for pain, 200, 000 for cold,
and 500, 000 for touch and pressure. From birth, girls
are dramatically more sensitive to touch and, as an
adult, a woman's skin is at least ten times more
sensitive to touch and pressure than a man's. In one
authoritative study it was found that the boys who
tested most sensitive to touch felt even less than the
least sensitive girls. Female skin is thinner than male
skin and has an extra fat layer below it for more
warmth in winter and to provide greater endurance.
Oxytocin is the hormone that stimulates the urge to
be touched and fires up our touch receptors. It's no
wonder that women, with receptors that are ten times
more sensitive than men's, attach so much importance
to cuddling their men, children and friends. Our body
language research shows that western women are four
to six times more likely to touch another woman in a
social conversation than a man is likely to touch
another man. Women use a greater range of touch
expressions than men, describing a successful person as
having a 'magic touch' and others as being 'thinskinned'
or 'thick-skinned'. Women love 'staying in
touch' and dislike those who 'get under your skin'.
They talk about 'feelings', giving someone 'the personal
touch', being 'touchy' and annoying people by 'rubbing
them up the wrong way'. In 1999, a research team led
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