The breezeway. The dining hall. The grocery store. The 12 pm chemistry lecture. Public displays of affection, better known as PDA, are rampant. According to Urban Dictionary, a public display of affection occurs “when two people of the opposite sex publicly have any kind of sexual touching.[kissing, or the whole enchilada.” Some call such acts pathetic displays of affection, but they are overlooking the extensive positive effects of PDA.

You see that cute girl over there? Don’t know if she’s single? PDA is like a real-time Facebook relationship status update:
“It’s complicated” – inconsistent flirting, possibly some touching or kissing;
“In a relationship” – major bouts of feeling up, snogging, and ass-grabbing;
“Married” – cuddling, holding hands, and the occasional peck on the lips.
PDA eliminates the need to creep on her Facebook page. It lets you know automatically who is off-limits and who is fair game. PDA may even help you avoid a fight with a 6’6”, 275 pound football player. If he and his girlfriend had been displaying their love for each other by kissing and groping, you never would have hit on his girlfriend, and he never would have hit you.

Nothing screams, “Oh, what an attractive couple!” more than two folks playing tonsil hockey in front of your apartment door. It’s nice to see two individuals who love each other so much they’re willing to share this passion with the rest of the world. If you’re the romantically involved party in this situation, and you really want to receive the cute couple compliments, just start making out in front of your friends. They’ll think it’s adorable.

When a single person sees a couple holding hands, kissing, or even “the whole enchilada-ing,” they can live vicariously through the pair. One can imagine that he or she is in public with a significant other, and pretend that it won’t just be Ben and Jerry on their lips tonight. Some single people are upset about not having someone to love. Couples engaging in PDA are doing them a favor by allowing them to partake from afar.

And think about the children. When kids are exposed to public displays of affection from a young age, they can better facilitate relationships in the future. It offers them exposure to healthy couples, while also accelerating the learning curve of affectionate touching in public. A reasonable person might argue that kissing and copping a feel are too graphic for children, but those people haven’t attended a public school. There is some intense tooting and booting going on in the seventh grade, grooming pre-adolescents for their future public sexual encounters. What did you think was the point of middle school?

Though people who are alone may not completely understand the advantages of couples publicly displaying affection, those who condemn PDA are likely jealous and therefore bitter. Even if one doesn’t have a significant other to share PDA with, they shouldn’t discourage those who do engage in it. The benefits speak for themselves. The only thing to do is encourage more partners to display their affection in public. If not to the lonesome souls around, they still owe it to the children.