Touching can be comforting – but it can also be worrying, and not a little inappropriate.
Office sexual politics can be a complicated area. A colleague touching you can be comforting, or disconcerting. Sometimes it can be downright inappropriate.
You always know, though, from the reaction in your gut, which it is.
Context – and whether you actually like them of course – is the key.
As someone famed for hugging colleagues at parties – pretty much anyone, really, to be honest – I must tread carefully in my condemnation of others in this regard.
And yet...
When I saw the pictures at the weekend of Donald Trump holding Theresa May's hand, the reaction in my gut told me, NO.
I did not like this.
It felt demeaning. Like she was the little woman, being guided through the world by the big man.
'Get off her!' my gut screamed.
But I wasn't there. Maybe she was happy to let him.
Girlishly thrilled that the big man, Trump, was keen enough to proffer a bit of physical contact. As PM, she probably doesn't get a lot of spontaneous loving, to be fair.
Perhaps they planned it together, to show off a still enduring 'special relationship' aka Let's Do What Suits America and Pretend It Suits Us Too?
Perhaps they thought channelling a bit of Thatcher and Reagan would be good PR. But did Ronnie hold Maggie's hand and lead her along like an old dear crossing in traffic?
I suspect he would not have dared.
Trump dares.
He doesn't care what he does. It's got him this far, so why not carry on?
According to Downing Street, his was a 'chivalrous gesture', helping Mrs M down a ramp.
According to the Daily Telegraph, he did it to steady his own fear of slopes – a condition apparently called bathmophobia, which doesn't at all sound like a shady attempt to defend a bloke grabbing a woman he ought to have left well alone.
Still, Mrs May is a tough old boot and no doubt knew what she was doing.
And bearing in mind Trump's famous comments about where he likes to grab women, maybe she got off lightly.
At least he only took hold of her hand.
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