The Consumerist has a story from a man (who–for extra irony–happens to be a nurse who already goes through background checks to make sure he can work around children) who was asked to switch seats on a plane because it’s the airline’s policy not to have men sit next to unaccompanied minors. …For the minor’s safety. (And it’s not just this airline with such a policy.)
http://consumerist.com/2012/08/should-single-men-be-barred-from-sitting-next-to-unaccompanied-minors-on-planes.html
This reminds me of Gloria Steinem’s quote,
“We know that we can do what men can do, but we still don’t know that men can do what women can do. That’s absolutely crucial. We can’t go on doing two jobs.”
Sometimes when I’m out walking and pass by a playground, I like to pause and watch the kids play because it brings back a lot of memories of the playgrounds I loved as a kid (especially this one big wooden one that almost looked like a castle). It’s so sad though, to think about how for so many men, if they were to pause as I do and look wistfully out at kids scampering around, they would be viewed with suspicion and possibly even disgust. I know I’m complacent in this, too: we get suspicious if a man takes any / too much of an interest in children. (What is “just enough” interest in children?)
That is so messed up.
Even if they were going to have such a silly policy, wouldn’t the proper action be to move the minor instead of the adult man? With many U.S. carriers (I’m not sure about Australian ones), folks are able to select their own seats. When I choose a seat, I’m rather inclined to stick with the seat I’ve chosen unless there’s a very good reason to move. And this doesn’t constitute much of a reason.
So … to ensure that I never have to sit next to someone else’ unsupervised child on a plane, I just need to dress as a man when I travel?
Here’s a somewhat related article I just came across about gender and parenting: http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2012/08/14/exaggerating-gender-changes-2/
“It is great to acknowledge and celebrate the increase in father involvement in parenting. But it is not helpful to exaggerate the trend and link it to the myth-making about looming female dominance.”
I’m definitely not up on the stats but all of this sort of extra caution is directed toward strangers right? Hmm. So this says:
But I’m having trouble interpreting their results:
Oh, I see. The 9% is out of all children.
Hmm. This still seems to suggest that moving people in the highly controlled environment of an airplane is nuts.
Huh! I just realized that I’ve been asked to move on! I was in the kids section of a bookstore looking for some stuff, reading snippets of old favorites, killing time when I was eventually asked to leave. I thought it was weird but I didn’t twig that it was a ‘safety concern’. I was just miffed at being discriminated for being without a child (which is how they sold it).
(The place was mostly empty. I wasn’t even near any kids.)
By the by, I don’t think this is the biggest deal. It’s bonkers, obviously, but very much of a piece with security theatre in general. People convicted of sex crimes (and other felons) are a much trickier issue with, on the one hand, the persecution levels rising quite high but, on the other hand, real worries about recidivism.