PDA

Old and obviously married couples doing public displays of affection are nice to marvel at. Teen couples doing the same thing are not cute at all.

Forgive me for the double standard but there’s just something about young lovers doing stuff in public that makes me want to exclaim “Pwede ba?” while whacking their heads.

I remember one time I was in church and I was for awhile distracted at a couple in front of me. The guy was hopelessly enamored of his girlfriend because, for the entire duration of the mass, his hand kept massaging the girl’s upper arm (In Bisaya, that’s called “ginalugod ang libag”). One other time, this guy kept stroking his girlfriend’s hair. And the funny thing is, the girls love it or at least tolerate being treated like a puppy in public.

It’s disturbing though because my assumption is that, for boys, refraining from overt public displays of affection shows one’s discipline and one’s respect for the woman. That’s because the guy who doesn’t pet his girlfriend in public knows how to hold back and also knows that a woman’s reputation might be smeared in our polite society by a careless touch or an impatient grope.

For a married couple, I could not care less if they kiss each other in front of the masses. I guess having your wedding rings on is a kind of license for such acts. Plus, it’s sweet.