A touchy-feely Aspie

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Maybe it depends on where you are on the aspie spectrum. I dunno. Maybe if you're closer to being neurotypical, you like touch. Who the heck knows? I like to put a LOT of ketchup on a burger plus other condiments as well. They say this is an aspie trait but I do it out of downright cheapness in order to stretch the meal and get my appetite satisfied with going back into my wallet.

I'm so happy to have found this thread.
YES!! ! I need to be rubbed and scratched. It is like a drug for me and I can't get enough of it. When I am lucky enough to get a back rub and can't even fully enjoy it because I am so worried it will stop.
I wish I could explain it to my sig other, because getting him to rub my back is impossible. He just doesn't like to do it but he also doesn't know how beneficial it is to me.
It centers and calms me. There is tactile pleasure, sure, but it goes far beyond that. I can't describe it. It is like as long as there are hands touching my skin, everything is ok.
I, too, believed for years that I had been abused. I thought that's why I was so jumpy about being touched sexually (still am) and almost prefer a back rub over sex. My whole adult life I have avoided receiving sexual attention. It is only recently that I understand why. Fortunately, that mostly changed when I met my mate a few years ago. For some reason, although I am still jumpy and apprehensive, I am able to talk myself into relaxing and enjoying his touch when it is sexual. Once in while, I nearly jump out of my skin but it isn't often.
I don't particularly like anyone else to touch me. I can give hugs or touch someone's arm or shoulder but I don't like it done to me. However, a couple times, people who were merely acquaintances gave me a shoulder rub and that was heaven.
How about getting a shampoo? Going to a salon makes me wish I could crawl into a hole. I hate it. But that hair wash ...... mmmmmmmmmm

I was bad about contact in middle school, I would jerk away from people touching me. Though after high school I got over it, I usually hug friends (guys and girls) and feel comfortable giving back rubs when appropriate. Also after working jobs as a server, pizza driver, and cash registrar, I've learned to use a lot of eye conact as well.

Oh yes! I love to cuddle. I have been told I am too feminine for a guy and I take offense at that judgment that I am somehow defective - I see myself as a complete person and it's OK to be masculine and feminine both, even though I am sometimes accused of being gay (even though I am 100% straight).

So it has its price, and some women I've dated have dumped me for being too sensitive and craving touch too much, either because they thought I should be a Neanderthal (in its original sense of brutishness), or was conning them and wanted a cheap feel, or they thought I was needy and regressing to childhood, when in fact I am kind of an Aspie empath if that makes any sense.

This is very intriguing since I've wondered about the "touch" issue in AS. For me, if touch comes from a known source in a familiar context, it is generally pleasant or at least not troublesome. It took many years for me to get to this point, but I got there. I like the comfort of my cats on my lap when I read or watch a movie, for instance.

But touch in all other situations can be very uncomfortable and unpleasant, if not painful and startling. And I remain very picky about the fabric and weave of anything in contact with my skin.