Are Public Displays of Affection Unacceptable?

Public display of affection isn’t bad at all. On the contrary, majority of people consider it an appropriate and nice thing to do. That was revealed in a poll, where Meetville.com (dating app to find the right person) asked people to respond to the question: “What is your attitude towards passionate kissing in public places?”

The poll, conducted between 9/29/14 and 12/17/14, yielded the following results: 73% of respondents approve kissing in public and 27% oppose the idea of showing feelings in front of other people.

Participants numbered 56,690 represented the following countries: the USA – 66%, Canada – 4%, Britain – 10%, Australia – 6% and other countries – 14%. Surprisingly, 71% of positive answers belong to men,  while the number of women responded “Yes” to the question is 29%.

Public display of affection is rather a controversial topic. Some people may be deeply offended even by sweet short kisses, while others don’t care about full-on make-out sessions at all.

Debby Mayne, Etiquette Expert, considers that “Holding hands and occasional tender touches or glances are better ways to show your affection than groping. One rule of thumb can be that if the action isn't something you'd want your mother to see, it's probably too much to do in public.”

Some people carried away by love want to express their feelings physically whenever the fancy strikes them. If you find yourself in the uncomfortable role of PDA witness, there’s a way to deal with it, according to Debby Mayne: “If leaving isn't an option, or you really want to be there, you may politely ask the couple to hold off until later. Another thing you can do is let the couple know that their behavior is unacceptable in public. Since this is more direct, you may get a response that is equally confrontational.”

Alex Cusper, Meetville service analyst, thinks that people will always show their affection in public because when we’re in love, we want the world to know about it. But the key thing here is keeping to an etiquette and respecting other people.

Meetville, a leading mobile dating service, regularly conducts research among its users. Millions of people from the U.S., Canada, Britain and Australia answer hundreds of questions every month. You can find the results of the poll here. If you are interested in research on a particular topic, please contact us. Any reprint of the material should be followed by clickable links to the survey.