New York Cuddle Party Disrupted by Clandestine Viagra

Spiked Apple Juice Sends Six Men to the Emergency Room

Police and paramedics were called to a cuddle party at a New York City apartment Sunday after someone apparently spiked apple juice with Viagra. Apple juice is routinely served at the beginning of the parties to emphasize the non-alcoholic, non-sexual nature of the event.

Six party participants, all men, were admitted to the emergency room at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center. Two were held overnight. The others were treated and released.

"This was inevitable. You had to see it coming," said Alfonse Houston, author of the landmark work "Sex in New York City", which probed the city's ever shifting sexuality. "You can't put three dozen strangers of both sexes in pajamas and close quarters on the floor of a room and not expect some kind of sexual acting out, whatever the party rules say about no sex."

Cuddle parties have emerged in recent months as a way for people to meet one another and experience the pleasures of non-sexual cuddling with friends, as well as total strangers. Organizers have described them as "affectionate play events" in which participants can enjoy touching one another, nurturing and communication. No sex is allowed.

The parties are held in organizers' apartments, usually in a living room in which the furniture has been replaced with pillows and carpets on the floor. Participants are encouraged to wear pajamas during the three-hour sessions.

"The scene was very chaotic when we arrived," said a paramedic with New York's Emergency Medical Service. "The women were mostly crying and angry, and the men and their erections had all been herded into the kitchen out of sight. A couple of them were in severe pain and all of them were extremely embarrassed."

Police questioned participants about what had happened but made no arrests. A police spokesperson Sunday night would only say that an investigation was ongoing.

"There is terrible, just terrible," said a young woman standing on the street outside the apartment building where the party was held. "I was at one of these parties a month ago and it was a wonderful experience. It was so lovely, so rejuvenating to just cuddle with people you didn't even know and not feel any sexual pressure. I felt wonderful afterward." She declined to give her name.

Another woman who also attended an earlier cuddle party in the same apartment said she noticed two men at Sunday's party who "didn't fit in with the rest of the crowd." She said they asked a couple of times before it began if apple juice would be served. She said they disappeared once someone called 911 after the Viagra began to effect several of the men.

Cuddle party organizers warn participants that some will become sexually aroused by the cuddling, but are adamant that such arousal is not be acted upon.

"It's interesting to note that two men are suspected of introducing Viagra into the party. Now why would they do that?" Houston asked. "These are all youngish, virile people, so you have to conclude spiking the apple juice with Viagra was a kind of protest statement. A lot of men find the idea of cuddling and nothing sexual results to be very threatening.

"Perhaps we've seen a form of sexual protest by threatened males," he said.

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