# @denverwestword on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DGBSB6wpnv-
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/27800063-denverwestword-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/2c8a4b4d1b.jpg
- **Posted:** 2025-02-13T16:39:51.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Denver Westword (@denverwestword) — https://gondola.cc/denverwestword

## Caption

Cuddling was not something Jen Ikuta instantly embraced.

“The first time someone told me that I should to go to a cuddle party, I was like, ‘You’re batshit. You’re crazy. I’m not going where a bunch of strangers are, and they’re all going to want to touch me. I’m not doing that,’” recalls Ikuta, today one of a growing group of Denver-based cuddle therapists.

Cuddling comprises a community, but it is also a growing profession. People signing up for cuddle parties pay — $30 is common — for an event that includes a professionally-led “welcome circle” of sixty to ninety minutes, during which topics such as consent, etiquette and the benefits of cuddling are discussed.

For additional fees, a cuddling session can be private and one-on-one, often in the home of the cuddler. Professionals advertise on websites such as Cuddlist, Cuddle Comfort and Cuddle Companions, where their profiles feature detailed outlines of services offered, plus photos of the practitioners themselves. Rates vary, but the standard is $100 per hour with a two-hour minimum. On most sites, a strict policy of platonic touch is spelled out. Very few professional cuddlers — who usually prefer to refer to themselves as cuddle therapists or cuddle practitioners — identify as male; the overwhelming majority identify as female, and there is a growing number of trans and gender-fluid therapists. Their clientele, on the other hand, is evenly split between genders.

Ikuta says that 90 percent of her clients are autistic, as she is herself. She also sees a large number of amputees and people who use wheelchairs — “because,” she says, “for whatever reason, societally, they tend to get even less touch than the average individual.”

💕 Read this week’s cover story on professional cuddlers at westword.com or at the link in our bio.

✍️ jason__heller 
Cover Illustration: Cori Redford

#valentinesday #denver #denverco #professionalcuddler #cuddling #westword #milehighcity

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## Tags

cuddling, denver, valentinesday, professionalcuddler, milehighcity, westword, denverco

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