And, regardless of what the original article says, this could become reality. The original article merely bans embracing spouses for fear of stumbling others. Now, what the hounders are going to do is make this a "disobedience to theocraptic order" issue, which could win you a trip to the back room with three hounders for embracing your spouse for "loose conduct". And, in this case, "loose conduct" means simply having disregard for the authority of the hounders, not getting too close to sexual "immorality(??)".
Going even further, the hounders are likely to add any touching to the list of bans. If one cannot embrace, why even take the first step and hold hands (even if the washtowel doesn't explicitly ban it, the hounders will). Once again, it will fall under disregard for the hounders' authority if any violations are noticed in this aspect. Which can lead to a trip to the back room.