Public Displays of Affection

Public Displays of Affection (PDA) are, basically, excessive kissing, holding, and pretty much anything past that shows adoration, love, desire, etc., and were completely outlawed according to CTY rules. That's not saying it never happened...

It's hard to enforce PDA rules when you've got several hundred sexually deprived teenagers all in one place.

As one of my RAs notably put it (I later borrowed from him when I became an RA), "All clothing should remain in place. And it's no excuse if (s)he shows up naked."

Lancaster

Brief hugging is acceptable, leading to the well-circulated joke "10 seconds and you're pregnant!" Three-second close-mouth kissing is also acceptable. In 06.1 the standard "It's not PDA if a mother can do it to a child without it being incest" was popularized by Molly Brean and circulated among the students.

The rule is possibly the result of arguably over-the-top behavior at Lancaster in 1985, but may have evolved independently at multiple sites over time.

In 2001, a list of "Don'ts" featured "No guys on girl halls or girls on guy halls". Seizing on the double negative, students claimed that this rule would be violated if there was a guys hall that didn't have a girl on it or a girls hall that didn't have a guy on it. The wording of this rule was soon changed.

Actually, at least at Lancaster, two of the actions that can lead to expulsion are still "No males on female halls," and "No females on male halls." All the other actions are listed as verbs.

In 04.2 a parody of the strict PDA rules were written but was never published, for fear of repercussions from crusading parents.

In 05.1, the MIND class girls were collectively busted for PDA, although the RAs didn't really seem to care much about other PDA. [Cortese hall]

As of 06.1, there were new PDA rules and they were enforced. New rules included: no holding hands, no linking arms, no hugging for more than three seconds, no open-mouth kissing, no grinding, no slow dancing less than half a foot apart (a.k.a "Six Inches!"), and "keeping hands above the equator"). The more absurd of the rules were not enforced as much, such as hand-holding and linking arms; thus creating a chance to form the "PDA Chain." This was first formed on the first day of CTY by Charlotte's hall by holding hands and/or linking arms and forming a chain. However, half (or more) of the RAs didn't enforce these rules, and hand-holding was allowed again (although it was not announced to the students, and the staff didn't find out for quite a while either). After a call to JHU, made after one student petitioned (Molly Brean) and parents complained, the administration decided for the rule to be changed (Note: the call might have actually come from JHU). See The Lancaster Hall of Shame.

As of 06.2, A "no lying on the grass" rule was applied. Enforcement depended on the RA. Some RAs appeared confused by the new limits. Frank Wang informed a particular couple that there was "No...lying...on the...uh, grass..." as if he didn't know what that green plant covering the ground was. The problem with the new rule is that, at Lancaster in particular, people will find ways to make out even when not hidden by two-inch turf.

An odd message appeared on the paper that the RAs read off of at one of the hall meetings during 07.1, stating "One butt per seat, one face per face." The phrase "one face per face" caused an excessive amount of confusion amongst the students, but was later confirmed by an RA that it simply means a student is not allowed to rip the face off of another student and tape it onto his/her own.

In 07.2, PDA rules existed but most RAs were more relaxed about them, especially with the coming of new site director Brian. On some weekend, Iggie and Ellie made out in front of an RA (with their backs to him) three times while he just smiled and continued the conversation. Before leaving, he said "I only bust 15% of the things that I see" (which still adds up to a lot in the end). However, there were also times when RAs refused to ease up. For example, RA Jeremy, after (correctly) suspecting illicit activities going on in a circle, broke up said circle, which was merciless as one girl was still putting her bra back on. After that, Jeremy placed a (not really official) ban on standing in circles for the remainder of the session. He attempted first to observe the students' activities by standing in the middle of the circle, but that didn't really stop the PDA because when he turned toward one part of the circle, the people behind him would start making out. Being as clever as they are, CTY students will forever find ways to outsmart the PDA rules.

An image of the Lancaster 07 PDA rules can be found here.

Carlisle

05.1: PDA rules were enforced by half the RAs and the other half didn't care. They did allow making out during Stairway to Heaven. An activity entitled "PDA" disapointed many a couple when it proved to be nothing sexier than cleaning up the campus.

05.2: Nothing besides hand holding was accepted. NOTHING.

06.1 and 2: PDA at Carlisle in both sessions of 2006 was pretty much dependent on the RA. My girlfriend and I were just standing in the Psychology section of the bookstore, which happened to be in a corner, and he poked his head up and started watching us. When confronted he said you can't trust kids in corners. Slow-dancers were allowed as close as they wanted, though if you started making out or anything else deemed PDA, the RAs would be walking around during slow songs on the lookout.

Before the last dance it was announced that any couple dancing "suggestively" would be put into time out, 5 minutes for the first hour, 15 for the second hour and the rest of the dance if after 10:00. This rule was enforced depending on the RA. Some couples/4somes/6somes were warned repeatedly and not put in the penalty box while some couples where never warned and put in the penalty box right away. Being in the penalty box gets you both time out AND an official write up, so that there is a note of it in your file.

06.2: Some RAs (Annie, for one) were pretty lax on the whole PDA thing. Others, (Matt, for example) were notorious for busting up couples who were doing absolutely nothing. With the exception of the last Meet Market and the last dance, you could pretty much count on being flashlighted... unless, of course, you're me. But anyway, the grinding rule had the same effect second session as first. The grind line at the first dance didn't get busted, neither did some of the couples, however, girls on my hall came in talking about the "cool-off room" after one dance.

There were a couple of really funny times involving RAs and PDAs. One was during one of the movie activities (Starcrash? maybe Zim) Matt (who was my RA) saw one couple that seemed to be making out and threw a piece of meat that I think came from a hamburger he was eating at them. There were also the many times that Jacob would come out of nowhere during Meet Market to remind us, in song, that we were "being very well supervised."

Saratoga

During 06.1, there was no lying on the grass "on top" of each other. Anything else was either accepted or ignored by the RAs as long as when grinding or slowdancing, you could 'see the light'. (it should be noted this is when stummy lies came about)

In 2005, SRA Felicia brought Tater to CTY. Tater is a stuffed potato that is stuck on the end of a stick and is used to separate too intimate slow dancing, which is where the phrase "Leave room for Tater" comes from. In 2006 session two, the first Saturday Mandatory Fun was called "Where's Tater". One of the staff members had supposedly stolen Tater and the activity was to solve puzzles to find out who did it. The original plan included more activities than puzzle solving, but it rained that day so the RAs had to make up puzzles while the students were watching Inspector Gadget. In the end, it turned out SRA Manan had stolen Tater and he was returned. There was no rejoicing.

07.1: The RAs were generally unconcerned with PDA, and it was rarely mentioned. There was never an official proclamation made on PDA (at least, not one that was passed on to my hall by our RA). Grinding and slow-dancing were permitted or at least ignored with no distance requirements. Making out also took place, and only very rarely did RAs interfere.

07.2: No one was caught when they were actually doing something...sketchy. Grass orgies were allowed because the RAs didn't notice. But there wasn't much interesting because this group was rather *reserved* (i.e., no explosions at the last dance.) rawr. Obviously slow dancing was allowed. If it wasn't the dances would be considerably worse.

Siena

04.1: The RA that was called the "makeout nazi" was duct taped to a lamppost after winning the privilege on Casino Night while couples lined up to make out in front of him. Same PDA rules as usual.

04.2: The "no PDA" rule was enforced pretty much all the time, except at dances, where nobody seemed to care if you were making out or grinding.

05.1 and 2: There was basically no grinding at dances. I think this was more because people didn't want to than that it was prohibited. Sadly grass orgies were prohibited. In fact, CTYers weren't even allowed to lie down separately on the grass. Enforcement varied from person to person.

06.1 and 2: No lying on the grass fully reclined or, as was the common joke, you'll be making CTY babies. However, RAs would deliberately turn away when they saw couples making out.

07.1: No lying on the grass because of "health reasons." Very heavily enforced, but some people (guys) got away with it. There was a lot of making out at the dances and at night. Have a few people cover you if you want to make out in other places, one couple did this frequently. Holding hands and putting your arms around each other, cuddling seemed to be okay. I've only seen one RA comment on PDA. Overall, the RAs didn't seem to care.

07.2: Lying on the grass completely prohibited except the last day, when nobody really cared about our grass orgies. The term "grass forgie" coined to explain to the RAs that they were "fake orgies".

LMU

In 2004, RAs began a serious PDA crackdown, especially at the dances, repeatedly separating slow-dancers and grinders of any sex combination.

As of 2004, there was no intertwining of anyone's legs. Technically, that was breaking rules. Also - holding hands was okay. Pecks were okay. Pecks on the mouth could not last longer than half a second. No making out. Hands must stay in "appropriate" places (this includes not grabbing asses while dancing). Freaking was not okay. Same sex grinding was fine. I saw most of these rules broken in session 2.

Also, these rules were not so well enforced, considering most of the RAs proceeded to break them all themselves.

During 06.2, people of different sexes could not lie on the ground together in close proximity.

However, during 07.2, many grass orgies took place.

Hawai'i

During 05.2, any slow dancing and most grinding was fine. No kissing, though most could pull off a three-second closed mouth. Hand holding, arms around each other, etc, fine. Hickies, not, as was proved by one couple, who together ended up with 20-something. (and managed to convince some of the more gullible people that they were bruises from rocks they had gotten while bodyboarding. It was quite funny, actually. -TM)(that was pretty funny). That was the night where there were like three or four fire alarms at the dance so everyone saw them both covered in white dust from lying on the ground on top of each other. The girl was in my hall and she had around 20 hickies on her own and got away with it but the site director made the boy call home and tell his parents. I went for 2nd session in 2005 and I remember that there was a lot of PDA out where everyone could see and no one really cared much.

Baltimore

05.1: ANY PDA set off an alarm for RAs; they would come and ask your names and then call your parents.

06.1: More lenient. All RAs turned the other way, as in a form of "I didn't see it so it didn't happen" usually makeouts happened at the dances.

07.2: Simon would walk around the Gentle Slope at Social Time catching couples making out under trees, wave his arms, and shout loudly, "YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!! I GET PAID FOR THIS!!" PDA Rules were generally unenforceable during dances, when couples would regularly make out in the middle of the dance floor where RAs couldn't see them from the perimeter of the Glass Pavilion.