I've met 4 people on EH so far, and I've struggled with this every time. Both for when you first see eachother, and also throughout the date. If demographics matter for the answer, I'm 23 looking for people my age, and living in the suburbs outside Chicago.

For first meeting, I would never assume that a handshake is appropriate, that just seems weird. A kiss seems like too much too, so the other options I can think of are hug, or no contact. I've been 2 and 2 so far, and I questioned myself every time.

During the date, I have the same problem. I'm a big snuggler and there's nothing better than physical contact for me, both sexual and nonsexual (for the first date, I'm referring to the nonsexual). On one date after we'd talked for a few hours on the phone, we felt comfortable going to a movie right away. I went to put my arm around her, and I'm not good enough at reading reactions to know what she thought of it. She didn't fight against it, but she didn't really lean into me at all either. On another date, we got on the farris wheel and I put my arm around her too, she did lean in a little, but that was more because the only thing to hold onto was in the middle of the 4 person car (we were facing her friends) and she was terrified of heights. She didn't move in our out at all when I put my arm around her.

What do girls think about this on a first date?