OPEN SEASON ON PUBLIC DISPLAYS OF AFFECTION.Byline: Julie Hinds San Francisco Examiner The San Francisco Examiner is a U.S. daily newspaper. It has been published continuously in San Francisco, California, since the late 19th Century. History 19th century The beginning of the Examiner is a topic of some controversy. Operating under the assumption that everybody loves a lover, the corporate-clad couple on a bench in Yerba Yer´ba n. 1. (Bot.) An herb; a plant. Yerba dol osa A kind of buckthorn (Rhamnus Californica). Yerba mansa A plant (Anemopsis Californica Beuna Gardens here is letting the lunchtime crowd in on their passion. He tenderly holds her hand. She wraps her arms around his shoulders, then plants a bunch of slow kisses just above the collar of his dress shirt. Sitting at a fountain above them, Nancy Drizik is eating a carryout car·ry·out adj. Intended to be consumed away from the place of sale; takeout: a shop offering carryout sandwiches. n. An item of food or a meal that is to be consumed away from the place of sale. salad. ``People are more into public displays here than the East Coast,'' says the recently transplanted New Jerseyite. ``I think within limits it's OK. A peck on the cheek is good. When it gets to where you need to go to a motel, that's a problem.'' In San Francisco, a city where the summer of love never officially ended, it's easy enough to spot public displays of affection, or PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) A handheld computer for managing contacts, appointments and tasks. It typically includes a name and address database, calendar, to-do list and note taker, which are the functions in a personal information manager (see PIM). . The term covers a variety of behaviors, from simple hand-holding to puckering up to heavy-duty groping grope v. groped, grop·ing, gropes v.intr. 1. To reach about uncertainly; feel one's way: groped for the telephone. 2. . You may find more of it at a romantic outdoor cafe here in North Beach than in the yuppie confines of the Marina District, where public intimacy is usually between people and their cell phones. How you react to it - with a smile, a blush or a muttered complaint about declining social standards - depends on your perspective. ``I think anything is OK,'' says Eugene Chen, a musician who's holding hands on a street corner with fellow band member Akire Lessey. ``I don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. about that,'' Lessey replies. ``I personally don't mind when other people do it, but I don't particularly want to stick my tongue down someone's throat when other people are watching.'' Recently, a public display of affection A public display of affection (sometimes abbreviated PDA) is the physical demonstration of affection for another person while in the view of others. For example, holding hands or kissing in public are commonly defined as public displays of affection. touched off controversy when the Human Rights Commission rebuked the Cafe, a gay and lesbian bar in the Castro District, for an incident last August where a straight couple was thrown out for making out. The Cafe's manager says he'll now ban heavy kissing by people of all sexual orientations. The incident was a reminder that any debate on public affection in this city is loaded with implications. For the straight community, PDA may be a topic for etiquette books, but for gays and lesbians, it's still about finding - and preserving - safe spaces to practice it. ``On some level, lesbian and gay people are unable to engage in the most innocent levels of affection without a certain threat,'' says Community United Against Violence director Lester Olmstead-Rose, pointing to last year's beating on a city trolley bus of a gay man who pecked his partner on the cheek. He added: ``To try to pretend we can have a discussion of public displays of affection and not get into the issue of sexuality is not something I'm willing to do.'' In a 1995 incident, two women kissing in Yerba Buena Gardens Yerba Buena Gardens is the name for two blocks of public parks located between Third and Fourth, Mission and Folsom Streets in downtown San Francisco, California. The first block bordered by Mission and Howard Streets was opened in 1993. were harassed by a security guard while a straight couple necked nearby without interference. But even in a world where homophobia would not be an issue, public lip-locking would be a charged topic, experts contend. They say that PDA, whether we're engaging in it or gawking in disbelief, is a reflection of people's deepest sexual feelings, not to mention our secret hang-ups. ``We're basically a very conservative, uptight society, unlike the people who live in France and Italy and hug and kiss on street corners with impunity,'' says etiquette maven Letitia Baldrige, whose latest book ``More Than Manners!'' covers how to raise well-behaved children. ``Public affection shocks us. People who are PDAing - can we make a gerund ger·und n. 1. In Latin, a noun derived from a verb and having all case forms except the nominative. 2. In other languages, a verbal noun analogous to the Latin gerund, such as the English form ending in -ing out of it? - should be sensitive. Each side should be sensitive to the other.'' Speaking from her home in Washington, D.C., Baldrige, a former chief of staff for first lady Jacqueline Kennedy, says she maintains a don't ask, don't yell policy on PDA. ``If you say, `Isn't that disgusting!' you're upsetting everyone,'' she says. ``Just move away from it.'' Famed psychologist Joyce Brothers, says the mere act of watching someone mash in public can provoke a physiologTical response. ``You watch a kiss, and the brain reacts,'' Brothers says. ``Sometimes, the ganglia ganglia /gan·glia/ (gang´gle-ah) plural of ganglion. in the pelvic region turn on. It can arouse you, even if you don't Even If You Don't is a single released by the band Ween in 2000 on Mushroom Records. Formats Enhanced CD single Includes the quicktime video of "Even If You Don't" directed by Matt Stone & Trey Parker of "South Park". realize it.'' |
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