I suppose I don't mind a handshake from strangers. Touching from those that I care about is acceptable and I actually crave hugs from them, though I rarely get any.
Now that I think about it, anything longer than a few seconds from strangers or even someone I know (except for people I am very emotionally close to) would make me feel uneasy. There has been a few situations where I've physically removed their hand, just walked away or verbally expressed very loudly to "get away!" or "stop!".
I wanted to add this...
Morphia wrote:
I just don't relate touch to friendship/caring for someone. I very rarely touch my friends. And it amzes me how much people seem to touch each other for abosolutly no reason!
I never used to relate touch with caring either until a few years ago. A very close friend was going through a very difficult loss and it was one of my ways to "be there" for him. Then I started thinking about how everyone else's families greeted one another with hugs.
It's like from then on I told myself that hugging those close to me would help me with some of my emotional issues and I still believe it will. Of course I haven't been very diligent in actually DOING it, but the seed was planted and it sort of forced myself to realize that it's ok. Now I have the mental approval and emotional desire, but not the means to follow through (yet). I hope that makes sense.