PDA - Public Displays Of Affection

When you complete a profile of yourself for one of the online dating services such as Match.com or E.Harmony, you are asked your opinion on various behavior traits, PDA being one of them:

PDA: love or hate
Tattoos: love or hate
Sarcasm: love or hate

I love PDAs - public displays of affection - well, I love 'my comfort level' of PDAs, that is. If I pass by a couple of young lovers walking arm in arm I love it. In fact, I especially love to see an older couple walking arm in arm. There is nothing more romantic, to me, than walking along and having your loved one, stop, lean into you and kiss you. Wow! I have even been sung to in public and accompanied by being led in a small dance. Wow!

I am a 'bring it on, kinna' girl and have been told therefore that I might enjoy Italy. Italians know how to experience pleasure, which is kind of the opposite of how many of the rest of us behave in this regard. Many of us have an inability to relax; and the concept of relaxing with sheer pleasure, are you fr*cken' kidding?

Some of us don't know how to just be.

Some of us don't know how to relax.

Italians are said to be the masters of il bel far niente, a sweet expression meaning, the beauty of doing nothing, the beauty of just being. This doesn't mean Italians don't work hard; they do. But even with all of their hard work, il bel far niente is the cherished Italian ideal. As in stop and smell the roses, you crazy distracted people. Notice the sunset. Enjoy the croissant, its flakiness, its wonderful aroma.

Rather, we are the land of Disneyland or Nintendo. We confuse fun with pleasure.

Regarding PDA, pleasure and affection I understand that even within Italian cities people show their PDA remarkably differently. Rome is known as the City of decadent sexiness - their definition breaks my PDA groundrules. Their version is very-very much publicly displayed, right on the benches, walkways and all over Rome; and is what most Americans would consider lewd behavior.

I'm not comfortable with 'bump and grind' PDA, here, Rome, or anywhere. Ghack! Its d*mn rude. I'm sorry, as they say, 'Get A Room!' and when you're in the room, door closed, go ahead and find out what's down inside the back of your partner's pants, cuz' frankly, I don't wanna' know.

But otherwise, if you and your loved one are both comfortable with it, I say bring on the steamy PDAs.

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FYI: an Internet survey, webpoll, with 317 votes total about PDA:

Kissing in public is...
Wonderful (204) 64%
Acceptable (52) 16%
Don't Care (33) 10%
Inappropriate (18) 6%
Disgusting (10) 3%

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