How Public Displays of Affection Demonstrate Cultural Liberalism

If there is anything that surprised me about Chilean culture, it is the sheer openness with which locals show romantic affection to one another in public places.  In subway cars, shops, plazas, and especially bus/train stations, couples casually French kiss, with not a care in the world that there are hundreds of people around that are baring witnessed to their romantic displays.  They just pick a spot, hold hands, face each other, and start making out, loudly and at length.

And it seems like they do it for casual purposes too.  Yes, some of them are quite important, like parting ways at bus stations, or seeing each other for the first time in hours, days, or weeks, but many of the passionate kisses are simply just sudden acts of passion.  Couples are just walking down the street, chatting casually, and during their laughter and banter, passion strikes, and they go in for lengthy smooches.  There really is no need for a special reason or occasion for the romantic display.

Interestingly, it does not seem that those baring witness to the PDA are too bothered by them.  Many would not even deliberately look away, instead letting on a smile, perhaps of envy, perhaps of memories when they themselves found themselves in similar situations.  There are no ill-intentioned reactions, whether it be disgust, embarrassment, or awkwardness.  People just accept PDA as part of everyday street life, a sign that society is alive and well.

It is a symbol of cultural liberalism that many societies would find unacceptable.  In Asian and Muslim societies, PDA is often a sign of public indecency, to be cracked down by law enforcement authorities with over-eager sense of moral righteousness and desire for control.  And most citizens would frown upon PDA (and agree with tough police actions) in these societies, where display of Affection, whether it be hugs or kisses, are rare even between couples in private spaces.

While being romantic through specific types of physical contact is culture-specific (kisses seem much more of a Western concept that is disseminated across the world in recent decades), differing public attitudes toward public display of romantic physical contact illustrate certain degree of cultural liberalism.  Only people who truly believe that people are free to do whatever they want without harming others (and agree that PDA is not "socially corrupting" in anyway) would be open to frequently seeing PDA.

Moreover, the idea of society being open to PDA can potentially correlate with more liberal attitude toward sex as well.  Taking Asian attitude toward romance, the average parents would not accept girlfriends or boyfriends for their children until way after puberty, and hence would not go through the necessary sex education until way too late.  The idea that romance is taboo until after a certain age undoubtedly affect people's understanding of sex, to the point of incomprehension when desire first arise.

In contrast, here in Chile, children are so used to seeing PDA on the streets that it is impossible for romance to be considered taboo from an early age.  Parents are forced to explain the phenomenon to their children from a young age, in the process bringing in the topics of sexual relationships.  Frequent display of romance allow people to get acclimated to it from a young age, thereby giving them opportunities to accumulate romantic experiences from their early days.

It is, therefore, quite beneficial for PDAs to take place so often as they do in Chile.  People become used to them from a young age, requiring parents to provide correct context from early on, and thus kids are more ready with the right knowledge and attitude when their first relationships come along.  Societies that suppress PDA, such as conservative Asian ones, are bound to suffer as people jump into relationships way too late, with little knowledge, because romance has been seen as taboo in the public.