There is an interesting story below about airlines that force men to switch seats when they are seated next to an unaccompanied child out of fear that they could be child molesters. A firefighter recounts how he was forced to move on a Virgin Australia flight because there was a child next to him. Qantas has actually defended the discriminatory policy.
Ironically, some male travelers may silently relish the idea of never having to sit next to a minor on flights, but most would be insulted by the stereotype underlying the policy.
Women are actually statistically more likely to abuse a child overall. Three-fifths (61.8%) of perpetrators in one study were female. However, in fairness, it should be noted that women are more likely to be caregivers and around children. Moreover, this is for any form of abuse as opposed to sexual abuse. Males are higher in that category. However, the study below found that roughly 30 percent of perpetrators of sexual assault of minors were female. In the category ages up to 18, the percentage went to 40 percent. Another study found the rate to be 20 percent. Overall, studies show that child sexual abuse fell more than 60 percent from 1992 to 2010. The New York Times reported last month that from 1990 to 2010, for example, substantiated cases of sexual abuse dropped from 23 per 10,000 children under 18 to 8.6 per 10,000, a 62 percent decrease, with a 3 percent drop from 2009 to 2010.
Studies can vary, of course, but the question is whether this is based on stereotypical or statistical foundations.
In the case of the Daniel McCluskie, 31, the move not only left people staring at him but the attention got worse after the flight attendant thanked a woman who they asked to move to take his seat next to a ten-year-old girl. McCluskie is a senior nurse at the local health district in Wagga Wagga.
A spokesman stated that “Qantas’s policy is consistent with other airlines around the world and is designed to minimise risk. The policy reflects parents’ concerns and the need to maximise the child’s safety and well-being.” That is news to me since I just flew back to Washington from Salt Lake City with an unaccompanied 12 year old girl. We talked about her sports and the sports of my four kids for the entire flight. If anything, I would insist that she was a bad influence on me. We ended up making fun of the fact that the pilot seemed unable to say double digits numbers and would instead say “one four” for “fourteen.” It was a wonderfully juvenile flight.
Qantas says that there is usually no problems because it intentionally reallocates seats to avoid males sitting next to unaccompanied children before take off.
British Airways was sued in 2010 for this ridiculous policy and agreed to change it pursuant to the Sex Discrimination Act. However, the airline now seats unaccompanied children in their own area.
Frankly, these policies appear more about hysteria than fact. There is always a danger of crime and I must admit to be an overly protective parent with my kids particularly at malls and similar locations. However, to assume males are a such a clear and present danger to children is insulting and unsupported in my view.
What is really interesting is that I told my wife about this policy this morning expecting that she would share my view that the policy is an outrageous act of discrimination and insulting to men. Despite her consistent liberal views, Leslie was actually ambivalent and felt it was better to err on the side of caution by moving the child or the male. Leslie is uncomfortable with a 100 percent rule but still is ambivalent about the general policy.
My mother-in-law Suzanne was a flight attendant for 20 years and never saw a case of molestation against a minor. On United, they never enforced such a rule. Suzanne does not agree with the Qantas policy.
What do you think?
Source: SMH
Here is the study referenced above: Forge Study
I think Prof Turley might know or be interested in the fact that pilots also cannot say single letters either. They always say Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo etc.. instead of ABCDE I have been known to say ECHO, Echo, echo on ocassion too. Then there is the always popular response to a controller. Flight 394 say speed. Pilot: SPEED!
In my view airlines operating within the jurisdiction of the United States could be held liable in the civil courts for this policy.
civil rights laws generally prohibit the discrimination on account of gender in contracts involving interstate commerce and general business. In this example it could be articulated a particular seat, which are increasingly assigned by mutual agreement electronically between the carrier and the passenger. The airline offers certain seats at a premium based upon location. The passenger agrees to this fee and selects the seat they want.
If the airline arbitrarily breaches the contract on account of gender of the passenger I would believe they would be violating these gender discrimination laws.
This is something that happens? REALLY?
I don;t get it, why don;t they set it up when they give out the boarding passes, some men may have “female” or questionable names, like lee, leslie, even marion, but for the most part they know who is a what.
It is my understanding that most abuse is within the family so unless you are seating dad (or mom) with his kid the chances of something going awry would, presumably, be higher.
(When I was coming home from an out of state hospital my father chose to take the train rather then drive. As we walked up the stars to the train he was haranging me about something.I kept replying that I was exhausted; I just got out of the hospital, just leave me alone. Some stranger interfered wiithin a minute or two “You leave her alone!” he yelled at him. I was so grateful for his appearance and help. Seems to me that a plane isn;t big enough for someone to do something without notice (absent the lavatory) and I would hope they would speak up, if the child can;t or won;t.
My Bad Wootsy, you were just quoting itchinbaydog. Being a dog, I know he would love to sit next to a a bratwurst, liverwurst, knochwurst, et.
Wootsy, Here in Wisconsin, when you write “brat” people think you’re referring to a German sausage. How would you feel about sitting next to a bratwurst?
Oh yes, the would-be? He was from Pakistan, educated, trained. Market said to him, not good enough language skills in Swedish. They were short of folks and accepted me 42 years ago. Times change. We don’t have the American job protector law that you do against foreign imports of labor.
Woosty,
A would-be software man working cleaning at McDonalds yesterday asked me the question all have for 44 years.
Why would an American leave the Mecca of the world and settle here. To keep it short, I gave him the real reason.
Lack of roots.
As time goes by I see the other good reasons. People don’t kill for kicks, rage, screwed up brains—just for money, and that seldom.
See a fist fight? Go looking for a food kiosk after one am, and two drunks over saddened by standing alone after a fruitless night will be the scene.
Misdeeds by police? Only when they go berserk, which is
seldom, very seldom.
Bad crowd control? Only when a foreign dignitary conference was held and the police chief had gone to one too many FBI conferences and thought he ALSO could imitate America. Only one wounded. Hundreds corraled, which is against the law and led to measures afterwards of legal nature.
Please stay there and keep working at it. But I understand the temptation. So was I by the people who I met at the Saturday night Scandinavian club dances in Hollywood in ’63.
I don’t understand the policy. Airlines approve all seating before the flight. Unaccompanied children should be seated where they are easily observed by airline personnel. Seat mates should be determined before the flight. The discrimination happens but the embarrassment does not.
Better yet, parents should provide an adult they trust as a companion on the flight. I know the arguments, mainly it just gets too expensive.
I had the great displeasure of sitting next to a loudmouth anus on a flight from Milwaukee years ago. The Packers had just won the Stupor Bowl & this LMA was their tight end. One of the (many) obnoxious rants he went on during the flight was how he refused to attend the White House celebration because “Clinton is a rapist”.
A year or two later he was arrested & ended up bounced from the NFL for the sexual assault of a 16 YO girls in his home. A lot of times its the pig who squeals the loudest that has the most to hide.
The rule however saves nobody but I suppose it makes up for the airlines not actually monitoring the boarding and unboarding of unaccompanied minors.
idealist707 where you are is looking better and better….
Sick society, sick people, sick solutions.
We have pervs too, but no suits. Money does not heal sores. Taking away that incentive helps. But nannyism thrives here.
http://www.delta.com/planning_reservations/special_travel_needs/services_for_children/children_traveling_alone/index.jsp
the difference between real and ‘OH MY G*D WHAT IF SOME MORON SCREWS UP AND IT COSTS ME EXTRA $$$$$$$!!!!!!!!WHO CAN I BLAME IT ON????SHIFT THE RISK TO????COVER MY BUTT WITH????
It used to be that when a risk was identified, the workers were informed of the risk and given instructions on how to proceed in that situation….this is a necessary step in maintaining an intelligent workforce and quality driven outcomes. When, and most importantly Why, did that change?
I think the airlines should squeeze in a few more rows, seats and charges and all minors should either travel Cargo or in Overhead bins…..that would really solve the problem.
The airlines are frightened to pieces of what, exactly? Degenerate adult males? No. Not so much. Hungry trial lawyers? Yes-exactly.
This kind of discrimination doesn’t bother me too much; where are the damages? Are males a protected class (See Joshua DeShaney versus Winnebago County…)?
By the way, a fireman is not automatically immune from being a molester. Three children of the chief of the fire department in a county just outside Los Angeles in the 90s claimed he had repeatedly molested them; they were aged 13, 11 and 7 and they never wavered from their stories. One of them wrote to me personally and in her pretty, loopy handwriting told me that everyone said her father was a hero because he was a fireman but he had killed her pot-bellied pig because she “told on him.” Who cares what somebody’s profession is when they’re being seated on an airplane OR when they’re being investigated for child sexual abuse after an allegation made by a child or, for that matter, after an allegation made by an employee of Penn State University who witnessed something in a shower?
Don’t imagine Qantas could not be sued if a kid got molested during a flight; don’t imagine it couldn’t be alleged that they had negligently arranged a situation in which a child was vulnerable. So I can’t get too concerned about a seating change. Anybody who’s put out can get an extra package of peanuts.
Put me in the Leslie camp.
As for the ‘rule’, like a lot of rules and laws…it is a cheap way to pass the buck when the ability to behave responsibly towards other human beings falters. Airlines already have all the control in seating passengers (right upfront)…this silliness just stinks up the air and puts a band-aid on their bottoms. Bad form…
“I dont want to sit next to a brat or a grandma or a school teacher.”
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I was going to say something crisp about who wouldn’t want to sit next to an ‘itchninBayDog’ but then I realized…nobody wants to sit next to a ratecay in argocay… 😛
I am on Leslies’ side…… But if the now have a policy that sits unaccompanied minors in a certain area….. How does a male obtain a seat next to the minor…… Your mother in law knows the business application side…..and you know the legal side….. Sometimes the twains never meet….. From an adjuster claims side….. I am sure they’d opt with Leslie too….. Err on the side of caution…..
Every Airline with that policy should have a policy of: 1) seats reserved for unaccompanied minors whether coal minors or not; 2) Seat the brats first; 3) the very last person on the plane that is seated is a pilot or stewardess being transported by the airline and not on duty; 4) airline person or perp goes into the left over seats not filled by the brats.
I dont want to sit next to a brat or a grandma or a school teacher.