Public Displays of Affection (PDA): Meaning, Dos, and Don’ts
Are you pro-PDA?
There tend to be two camps of people when it comes to PDAs and relationships. There are those who are all for it and those who think it’s seriously inappropriate. There aren’t many who fall into a middle camp.
To understand why this subject is so divisive, we need to talk about what a PDA is and some general etiquette for use.
Public Displays of Affection (PDA) Meaning
Public Displays of Affection, or PDAs, occur when a couple gets intimate in public. If that definition makes you uncomfortable, you’re likely not a fan of PDAs. However, intimacy in public doesn’t mean doing the deed on a city block in full view of passing schoolchildren. The intimacy referred to here includes any evidence of affection.
If you can look at a couple and know that they’re together based on body language, they might be engaging in PDAs. While holding hands is usually a fairly acceptable PDA, there are other acts of affection that might make some people uncomfortable, such as kissing in public.
In fact, if you’re a cis-gendered straight person, you might even take many of your public displays of affection for granted. Alexander Cheves points out the following PDAs that are likely to…
