I don't know what they called it. The idea did not come directly from religion. It came from a psychiatrist or psychologist who wrote a paper.

@Enchanter Sounds like bad science to me...and counter to human need of warmth and affection.

Different areas/families have different ways of showing affection. I don't think one way is always the right one.

@JackPedigo @Marionville this is very strict dogmatic belief in not touching or holding or showing affection to your infant, baby, or child. In my dads case it was more about "training" your child to be logical and rational and "strong", rather than emotional and "weak". It was some "parenting guru" of that time, who wrote a book/theory on it, but i can't find their name.

@Burner It sounds a recipe for causing serious mental health issues with repressed emotions.

@Marionville yup

@Burner Not everything is dogmatic. My mother was 17 when she got married and I came along 1 year later. She was living at home when she got married and didn't have a clue. People in those days and in Texass did not hug. There were touches but no real emotional expressions. It was no big deal. We had a great childhood (but very free range) and no one ever got mad at another (except my dad at christmass when my mom spent so much money on gifts. There was always a (civilized) argument and she always won).

@JackPedigo This kind of hands off , no touching upbringing, may not have harmed you in any way, but it definitely could have done so in other people who feel the need to express themselves or to have others express a more physical affection, such as hugging or embracing between parents and children. If this is repressed it can lead to feelings of rejection.

@Marionville I thought somewhere I did mention we touched (if hits on the shoulder or wrestling count). Simply speaking from my own experience. No one experience is universal. We had a great childhood and normal (whatever that means) parents that did care for their kids. Maybe the feeling of this was more mental than physical but it was there.

@Burner, @Enchanter, @Marionville In the 1980s while writing a book on growing one’s political power (assertiveness etc) I saw a reference to a book published ~1890 that said parents who touch their children make them dependent.
My ethnic German and authoritarian Catholic parents (~1905 to ~1975) didn’t need that book but their parents (born ~1875) might have seen it. In 1995 my four sibs and I (born between 1929 & 1945) met and remarked on the lack of touching when we were young. It’s as you say. Writing of the consequences requires more than a chapter in a memoir.

That too is a problem but I'm addressing an area that may intersect with toxic masculinity but is different. I was brought up with constraints of not being touched or cuddled. Sexual touching and anger touching were not taught as acceptable but the pressure to "be a man" was always there.

@Enchanter so, I’m connecting the thought an article that postulated that men expect/demand sex because it is their only opportunity for human contact. That is, most forms of physical contact is verboten but it’s “okay” or even expected to want sex.

Unfortunately, I am. It has contributed to making relationships impossible. I am curious as to how many of us were brought up that way and what impacts it has had on their lives.