Airlines asking men to move seats because they might be molesters

[Dags90]

Dude argued that he can't tell which ones are wrong'uns so he wouldn't want his kids taken care of by a dude.
Obviously, I disagree - but I know many parents can be overly protective.

I'm pretty sure like, all of the cases I've heard of crazy nursery attempted or actual kidnappings involve women who really, really want a baby. It makes more sense to have big gruff looking dudes, because they'd stick out like sore thumbs if they did try to kidnap a baby.

Also, why are they ignoring the other obvious low hanging stereotype. Dude's a male nurse. Stereotypes dictate that 10-year-old girls are about as removed from his type as you can get. He's obviously into bears.

 

[DementedSheep]

Wait, you can have a minor on a plane by themselves? That...seems like a bad idea but I suppose it would be necessary in some situations.
Anyway to the actual issue, guys seem to be treated pretty badly when it comes to anything involving child care. Largely it seems because of this fear that men are paedophiles (and also because they are assumed to be incompetent with kids and it?s not considered ?manly? but that doesn?t relate to this so much). Women can be paedophiles too, it apparently much less common but I suspect it gets reported a lot less and either way I doubt its common enough to warrant this kind of paranoia. This is just as bad as racial profiling and it needs to stop. The staff on airlines should be keeping a quite eye on unaccompanied kids anyway. How many would you get on a single plane? It can't be that hard to check on them occasionally when you?re walking past anyway, maybe seat them up the front so it's easier to keep an eye on them and if they are really worried they can sit minors next to each other. Do you pay more for a ticket? Because they should get a little bit of extra care.

If it makes you feel better OP at least the majority of the comments on that site were against this practice.

 

[esperandote]

cant they fix this since they buy the tickets? I know sure be offended by that.

 

[Phasmal]

Dude argued that he can't tell which ones are wrong'uns so he wouldn't want his kids taken care of by a dude.
Obviously, I disagree - but I know many parents can be overly protective.

I'm pretty sure like, all of the cases I've heard of crazy nursery attempted or actual kidnappings involve women who really, really want a baby. It makes more sense to have big gruff looking dudes, because they'd stick out like sore thumbs if they did try to kidnap a baby.

Also, why are they ignoring the other obvious low hanging stereotype. Dude's a male nurse. Stereotypes dictate that 10-year-old girls are about as removed from his type as you can get.

You can argue with the dude yourself if you like, it was on here: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.384786-Necessary-double-standards?page=2

Also, I think his problem was less about kidnapping and more about... fiddling.

 

[hazabaza1]

Truth is, most children are abused by a relative or someone they know

I really hope that was a mis-phrasing like "most children who are abused are abused by a relative" etc etc or I'm gonna need something to back that up.

 

[AngloDoom]

What? No. No!

This is ridiculous. I used to fly between England and Germany twice a year when I was a child, every year for a very long time and I had never felt anything but 100% secure because I was always surrounded by literally hundreds of responsible adults, given free Coke-Cola on demand, and had a flight attendant who was responsible for my well-being any time that I wasn't surrounded by hundreds of adults, and sometimes even when I was.

If I was told to move seats because apparently I am more likely to molest a child, you can be damn sure I'd be offended, embarrassed, and downright furious at the implied accusation.

Having 'child only' sections of a plane isn't a solution either: should we have child-only sections of a bus or a train for the same reasons? Of course not. To my understanding (and hell, I might be wrong) the times when children have been molested at twenty-thousand feet are pretty few and far between: we do not need such extreme steps in place. On most flights you are stuck on the same seating row as five other individuals, it's pretty darn secure.

 

[Gabriel Martin]

Simple solution, Fedex those brats!!!!

On a more serious note I would NEVER send my child on an airplane or train or bus unaccompanied.

 

[Dags90]

I really hope that was a mis-phrasing like "most children who are abused are abused by a relative" etc etc or I'm gonna need something to back that up.

About 7% of acts of child sexual abuse reported to the police in the U.S. are committed by strangers. [footnote]http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/saycrle.pdf[/footnote] Sexual assaults by strangers are also more often reported, so it's likely the actual percentage is even lower.

Children are more likely to be abused by male relatives than strangers, obviously fathers shouldn't be allowed to sit with their children.

 

[-|-]

This is brilliant. I wish all airlines would have this policy. In fact, you can't be too careful, so they'd better sort out the seats in front and behind too.

 

[hazabaza1]

I really hope that was a mis-phrasing like "most children who are abused are abused by a relative" etc etc or I'm gonna need something to back that up.

About 7% of acts of child sexual abuse reported to the police in the U.S. are committed by strangers. [footnote]http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/saycrle.pdf[/footnote] Sexual assaults by strangers are also more often reported, so it's likely the actual percentage is even lower.

I meant with her (I think) saying that most children are abused.

 

[Alexi089]

Wow. Surely stuff like this is teetering on the edge of slander? I'm happy for unaccompanied kids to be seated away from me in their own section, just to ensure me some peace; but I sure as hell am not taking anything less than an upgrade if some chops-y stewardess comes over and says "Excuse me sir, could you move? Only, as a man, we?re worried you could be a threat to the child." That makes moving feel like admission to a criminal interest.

Frankly, I?m amazed anyone?s tried to molest a kid on a plane. I don?t see how you could hope to get away with it. Most people are careful about farting on a plane.

If airlines are really that paranoid, they can work out a seating plan for the children beforehand and not expect customers to put up with their crap.

Besides, what if the woman you sit them next to is desperate but unable to have a child of her own, and attempts to befriend the child, hoping to abduct them as her own later on? What do we assume now?

I?d suggest all men faced with this in the future smile, gather their things and walk straight up to first and/ or business class looking for a free seat. When confronted with a ?Sorry, sir, you can?t sit here? Say: ?I?m a paying customer, who you?ve just publicly insinuated may be a pedophile, based on nothing more than paranoid assumptions. You most certainly are upgrading me to First Class, free of charge, of course. Now fetch my complimentary bottle of Bollinger?.

Final rant: Paranoid, feckless parents in supermarkets: Stop getting all upitty when an adult catches your child?s shoulder whilst it?s running/ spinning around, to stop it running into us and banging it?s head on something. We?re doing you a favour you complacent fucks! If anyone should be under suspicion, it?s you, for being useless!

TL;DR
When confronted by a dumb airline calling you a pedo for no good reason, eloquently demand lots of free shit.
Airlines need to develop means to implement their policies that don't insult and inconvenience their customers.
Everyone's a threat to children in hypothetical land. Doesn't mean that threat is likely.
Parents who can't look out for their kids in shops shouldn't start throwing stones when a stranger does a better job for them.

 

[ElPatron]

Time to get a fake beard and pedophile glasses.

No more getting nagged by kids.

If you're so fucking worried about some dude going for a few grabs on your sweet little childs butt, then book a seat next to him or her. Is it that hard? If that is too challenging for you, maybe you should consider putting your child up for adoption, because you are clearly not fit to be a parent.

Have you ever booked a flight? Trying to fit a family all together inside a plane is like trying to fit your ships on a Battleship table already peppered with misses. Unless, of course, you manage to know exactly when your vacations are and magically avoid any emergency that might happen - then you book the seats ahead of time.

Wait...why the fuck wasn't the minor with a parent/guardian?

Never watched 80's/early 90's American movies? They also puzzled me at first, but my parents explained me that children can fly unattended.

I happens in "Bogus", I think.

 

[Arif_Sohaib]

Multiple airlines reserve the right to force any man sitting next to an unaccompanied minor to switch seats with a woman. They say the policy is due to "parental concerns," but it's probably mostly due to the airline companies wanting to cover their asses; parents have sued airlines over child molestation incidents in the past.

The most recent case took place on Qantas Airlines, when a flight attendant asked a 31-year-old male nurse sitting next to a 10-year-old girl to switch seats with a woman on the opposite side of the aisle. The nurse said he was "humiliated" by the switch. "After the plane had taken off, the air hostess thanked the woman that had moved but not me, which kind of hurt me or pissed me off a bit more because it appeared I was in the wrong, because it seemed I had this sign I couldn't see above my head that said 'child molester' or 'kiddie fiddler' whereas she did the gracious thing and moved to protect the greater good of the child," he told The Age.

http://jezebel.com/5934753/should-airlines-be-allowed-to-forbid-men-from-sitting-next-to-unaccompanied-minors

Jez is typically a very feminist site and never tolerates discrimination against women. But suddenly many of their comments are ironically cheering on the very discrimination they rally against. Comments like;

Most men aren't child molesters, but most child molesters are men. That's just a fact and whatever humiliation an adult male may feel by being asked to switch seats pales in comparison to the trauma child abuse victims face.

So what is your take on the airlines issues? Here's mine, quoted from someone who pretty much said exactly what I would've.

You know what? Most Muslims aren't terrorists, but most airline terrorists are Muslim. It only makes sense that Muslims should be kept as far away from the cockpit as possible. If they're sitting up front, just ask them to move.

So what if a few Muslims are humiliated? It's nothing compared to what the victims of 9/11 felt.

Any discrimination should not be tolerated, it's not magically okay since it happens to men less.

I am a Pakistani Muslim man, you probably think I should be just killed just for being that, "it would be nothing compared to what the victims of 911 felt". What about the victims of Salala check post who were fighting your war and then were killed by your army? What about the victims of Raymond Davis? In both cases, just like the airlines, the US government refused to even apologize.
It is exactly this kind of discrimination that angers Muslims and serves as a recruiting tool for the terrorists.

 

[Eri]

Multiple airlines reserve the right to force any man sitting next to an unaccompanied minor to switch seats with a woman. They say the policy is due to "parental concerns," but it's probably mostly due to the airline companies wanting to cover their asses; parents have sued airlines over child molestation incidents in the past.

The most recent case took place on Qantas Airlines, when a flight attendant asked a 31-year-old male nurse sitting next to a 10-year-old girl to switch seats with a woman on the opposite side of the aisle. The nurse said he was "humiliated" by the switch. "After the plane had taken off, the air hostess thanked the woman that had moved but not me, which kind of hurt me or pissed me off a bit more because it appeared I was in the wrong, because it seemed I had this sign I couldn't see above my head that said 'child molester' or 'kiddie fiddler' whereas she did the gracious thing and moved to protect the greater good of the child," he told The Age.

http://jezebel.com/5934753/should-airlines-be-allowed-to-forbid-men-from-sitting-next-to-unaccompanied-minors

Jez is typically a very feminist site and never tolerates discrimination against women. But suddenly many of their comments are ironically cheering on the very discrimination they rally against. Comments like;

Most men aren't child molesters, but most child molesters are men. That's just a fact and whatever humiliation an adult male may feel by being asked to switch seats pales in comparison to the trauma child abuse victims face.

So what is your take on the airlines issues? Here's mine, quoted from someone who pretty much said exactly what I would've.

You know what? Most Muslims aren't terrorists, but most airline terrorists are Muslim. It only makes sense that Muslims should be kept as far away from the cockpit as possible. If they're sitting up front, just ask them to move.

So what if a few Muslims are humiliated? It's nothing compared to what the victims of 9/11 felt.

Any discrimination should not be tolerated, it's not magically okay since it happens to men less.

I am a Pakistani Muslim man, you probably think I should be just killed just for being that, "it would be nothing compared to what the victims of 911 felt". What about the victims of Salala check post who were fighting your war and then were killed by your army? What about the victims of Raymond Davis? In both cases, just like the airlines, the US government refused to even apologize.
It is exactly this kind of discrimination that angers Muslims and serves as a recruiting tool for the terrorists.

Apparently you COMPLETELY missed the fact that entire post was to point out the absurdity of the sexist argument.

 

[TakerFoxx]

I am a Pakistani Muslim man, you probably think I should be just killed just for being that, "it would be nothing compared to what the victims of 911 felt". What about the victims of Salala check post who were fighting your war and then were killed by your army? What about the victims of Raymond Davis? In both cases, just like the airlines, the US government refused to even apologize.
It is exactly this kind of discrimination that angers Muslims and serves as a recruiting tool for the terrorists.

Pretty sure he was being sarcastic, combating one ridiculous policy by suggesting another.

 

[-|-]

I might have to mention at check in that I'm also the kind of pervert that is attracted smelly people and women travelling with small babies. You really can't be too careful - so a 3 seat exclusion zone is recommended.

 

[Arif_Sohaib]

Multiple airlines reserve the right to force any man sitting next to an unaccompanied minor to switch seats with a woman. They say the policy is due to "parental concerns," but it's probably mostly due to the airline companies wanting to cover their asses; parents have sued airlines over child molestation incidents in the past.

The most recent case took place on Qantas Airlines, when a flight attendant asked a 31-year-old male nurse sitting next to a 10-year-old girl to switch seats with a woman on the opposite side of the aisle. The nurse said he was "humiliated" by the switch. "After the plane had taken off, the air hostess thanked the woman that had moved but not me, which kind of hurt me or pissed me off a bit more because it appeared I was in the wrong, because it seemed I had this sign I couldn't see above my head that said 'child molester' or 'kiddie fiddler' whereas she did the gracious thing and moved to protect the greater good of the child," he told The Age.

http://jezebel.com/5934753/should-airlines-be-allowed-to-forbid-men-from-sitting-next-to-unaccompanied-minors

Jez is typically a very feminist site and never tolerates discrimination against women. But suddenly many of their comments are ironically cheering on the very discrimination they rally against. Comments like;

Most men aren't child molesters, but most child molesters are men. That's just a fact and whatever humiliation an adult male may feel by being asked to switch seats pales in comparison to the trauma child abuse victims face.

So what is your take on the airlines issues? Here's mine, quoted from someone who pretty much said exactly what I would've.

You know what? Most Muslims aren't terrorists, but most airline terrorists are Muslim. It only makes sense that Muslims should be kept as far away from the cockpit as possible. If they're sitting up front, just ask them to move.

So what if a few Muslims are humiliated? It's nothing compared to what the victims of 9/11 felt.

Any discrimination should not be tolerated, it's not magically okay since it happens to men less.

I am a Pakistani Muslim man, you probably think I should be just killed just for being that, "it would be nothing compared to what the victims of 911 felt". What about the victims of Salala check post who were fighting your war and then were killed by your army? What about the victims of Raymond Davis? In both cases, just like the airlines, the US government refused to even apologize.
It is exactly this kind of discrimination that angers Muslims and serves as a recruiting tool for the terrorists.

Apparently you COMPLETELY missed the fact that entire post was to point out the absurdity of the sexist argument.

Ok, sorry I did miss the point. But it looked like you said you completely agreed with discriminating against Muslims. I probably missed the point because I am still angry over reopening NATO supply routes after what they did at Salala and didn't bother to apologize properly.