(no subject)

[aroraborealis]

The kiss in question here is not a peck and not a full-on clinch, but something between. Let's say it lasts a 3-5 seconds, involves (but doesn't display) tongue, and does not involve groping, grinding, or otherwise suggestive activities, but is clearly intimate.

[Poll #1359433]

[ETA: I phrased this poll confusingly; take note that the question is whether it's INappropriate. Bad poll designer!]

Comments

[catness.livejournal.com]

Also, um... it maybe appropriate for me to see it. It would likely not be entirely appropriate for me to *do* it. ;)

[mgrasso.livejournal.com]

Not inappropriate if it's a goodbye kiss or otherwise isolated or alone. If it's part of a prolonged series of such kisses in public, probably a bit inappropriate.

[concrete.livejournal.com]

it's appropriate for me, but then where I'm from, people make out in public. I expected America to be a total slum of debauchery, and I was shocked to find how prude it is!

[blk]

"Inappropriate" feels like too strong of a word for me. "Somewhat tacky" is closer to my feelings. Also, there are a variety of exceptions, such as in areas where you are likely to greet/part someone intimately (ie, airport), or in certain places where such interaction is generally accepted (ie, nightclub).

And it's such a small deal as to be nearly neutral as long as the kissers are stepped enough out of the public way, so nobody has to wait for them, walk around them, or even look at them unless they want to.

[coraline]

i apparently missed the memo somewhere about which things were inappropriate. i try not to make other people uncomfortable, and take my cues from other people, but i think i fail sometimes.
i tend towards the PDA, a lot.

[crosslet.livejournal.com]

oops - I miss read the polls. Bad multitasking.

[redheadedmuse.livejournal.com]

oops. I totally voted wrong. bad reading comprehension. what I meant was "it's fine to kiss like that in public" but what I really meant "it kind of depends where you are and how much intimacy you express with that kiss"

yesterday I stopped by a friend's house and was greeted with a kiss like that in a not-private social space. totally cool.

I've also been kissed like that at work at a preschool and felt like kicking my boyfriend for having poor boundaries.

[meadmaker.livejournal.com]

If that's inappropriate, then I'm in trouble. Though I'll second blk, in that the kissers shouldn't cause a public obstruction while kissing.

[spike.livejournal.com]

[dpolicar]

...though there are certainly subsets of "public" where its appropriateness would be questionable.

[catya.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. The three second end seems ok. The 5 second end seems o nthe border or over it. BUT, it depends a lot on the body language.

By 5 seconds, is the whole room looking at you?

[ectropy.livejournal.com]

Hey, if the new prez can show PDAs, then it must be ok for all us plebs, too.

[lyonesse.livejournal.com]

my personal rule is, if it happens and i don't want to see it, i can look away. by the time i have forgotten it and glanced back, if it's over, no harm done. five seconds gives me plenty of space to happen to choose to look elsewhere :)

[sweetbaboo.livejournal.com]

How could it not be suggestive if it was in pubic?

I don't know how to answer this

[drwex]

Do you mean "yes it's inappropriate" versus "no, it's inappropriate" or "no, it's OK"?

[harlequinaide.livejournal.com]

I'm having trouble picturing this. Maybe if I had a demonstration... Not watching it on YouTube, or anything, because that would be someone else's kiss, and I want to be able to answer for myself. Perhaps if we worked together on a sample kiss of the kind to which you refer, I could formulate a more complete, considered, response... Alternative definitions of "public" might also need to be explored. On the street might certainly be public, but on the street during Folsom? In the bedroom, with the cat watching? In front of my class? In the back of someone else's class?

[rdhdsnippet.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't be upset by it, from either end.

And for the record, in an airport, ALL bets are off. :)

[haptotrope.livejournal.com]

I would say that public expressions of tenderness like the aforementioned kiss are ok. People are, after all, allowed to be together, and have a few seconds of expressions of that tenderness.

If I look away and then look back, and they are still going at it... then they are doing it for my benefit/ their egos' benefit and not for the benefit of this shiny loving moment between lovers.