Touching girls - what's okay, what's appropriate? What does mutual touch mean?

[CuriousMale]

The basic answer to the question is simple: Don't ever touch her (or anyone else) against their will, without making sure they are okay with it. This particularly applies to more "private" areas of the body.

However, I'm wondering what you guys think about touching girls when talking to them and such: Very generally speaking -- what is still okay (for the girl)? What kind/amount of touching towards other girls is okay when you are in a relationship yourself?

What does it mean when a girl is okay with your touch (i.e. doesn't seem uncomfortable, doesn't move away etc.) and even touches you?

E.g. recently I was out at night and when talking to this one girl I would very often like touch her arm, her back, put my arm semi-around her back and even keep my hand there while we were talking and she wouldn't complain/move away and/or even put her arm/hand on my body. Is this still a "friendly touch" or does this mean she is attracted to me (she has a boyfriend)?

Updates

+1 y

EDIT: to clarify, we were both somewhat tipsy and she isn't usually a touchy person (at least when sober) and wasn't touchy to anyone else that night.

[Anonymous]

I think in general most girls would be okay with a guy friend touching her arm or putting an arm around her shoulders or whatever, but every girl is different and it's always good to read her body language.

I have a boyfriend and several guy friends that we share in common, and if they ever tried to touch me inappropriately (bum, chest, neck*) my boyfriend would probably knock them out.

*I say neck as inappropriate because I'm extremely uncomfortable being touched around the neck due to an abusive relationship I was in, and all my guy friends and bf know that. Some girls might be okay with being touched around the neck. It just depends on the girl.

[CuriousMale]

I think I also put my hand on her lower back (not butt) quite a few times and also left it there for longer periods (ie not just a second) while talking to her and she didn't seem to mind. Does that change anything for you?

[Opinion Owner]

Well, if she didn't protest, it's probably not a problem. But be careful in the future, especially if you were both tipsy! People can be harder to read when they're drunk.

[hsshannah96]

I think when drunk everyone should not touch anyone

[eugwara]

I was at a presentation by a keynote speaker at my school and I was next to a girl that I'd never talked to and her hand was close to mine so we ended up holding hands for the last 45 min of the presentation. We sat next to eachother the next day listening to another speaker and she was okay with me touching her knee/lower outer thigh.
Probably shouldn't have done that but she was okay with it

[moxygirl11]

She is probably just comfortable around you