I first came across the fact that it is British Airways stated policy to not sit unaccompanied children next to adult male passengers many years ago during filming of the documentary video on this site.
Back then I was outraged and I couldn’t understand the logic of such a policy. If men were really that dangerous around children then they must surely be equally as dangerous to women and indeed, to other men. Why did British Airways allow men to travel at all?
However, I am far less outraged today because this policy, as hateful as it is, is truly mild in comparison with the UK governments opinion of men, and charities view of men and our media’s view of men. It is a minor note in the symphony of misandry that men are subjected to, day-in and day-out.
That said, it is one of the clearest and boldest examples of misandry in UK life and indicates how deeply entrenched negative attitudes towards men are in the British psyche.
Coming from British Airways – the nations favourite airline no less, a publicly traded company, the epitomy of Britishness - such naked hatred of men is almost civilised and must surely be justified with evidence of men’s uncontrollable depravity around children, no?
Here is a clip from one of the documentary films on this site which covers BA’s policy towards men, with commentary from Michele Elliott, former Director of children’s charity Kidscape and author of the book “Female Sexual Abuse of Children”; and Stephen Fitzgerald, Director of the Mankind Initiative Men’s Charity.
(Clip from Film 46 – Misandry: Rape – details of its content here because login is required to view the full film)
British Airways and other agencies choosing to demonise men
02m 50s
Hello. Just one demand: don’t ever give your sperm to banks. Let us have them shut down for good. Keep it up!
And, please, don’t get married….
You know what I think? More and more people in the West becoming wealthier and wealthier has meant that the social class divide has been getting narrower and narrower. But, I’m afraid, some people’s egos have still remained enormous, making them seek an artificial target they can look down on.
If senior British Airways policy-makers and politicians were honest, you could write to one. What I would do is mention the thousands of times I have travelled on trains throughout Europe, and have had a kid come and sit on the empty seat next to mine on a few occasions. This would often be at the behest of his or her parents, and always — needless to say — with the journey no less normal than others (apart from sometimes having an annoying little runt next to me).
But alas. Big business managers and politicians are not honest people. They are fully aware that this policy is a red herring. But it’s one that makes money because it is based on the newspaper-instigated perception that men are monsters.
This means that most men themselves fully agree with it. They may be rather stupid and unthinking, but they nevertheless go along with it in sufficiently large numbers for British Airways not to suffer (at least not as a result of this in particular).
And why do passengers buy it? A man moved from his seat is someone that conventionally stupid passengers can look down: he was moved and they weren’t. It gives them free reign to create the myth in their own heads that this guy moved really WAS a paedophile. Quite a thrill to their egos.
So the policy works. But it is just as much a result of the collective stupidity of the public as of unscrupulous corporations taking that stupid public for a ride to boost income.
Because think about it. These airlines do not need to mention their policy practice AT ALL. They could just quietly avoid seating men next to children in the first place and no one would know any different. Herein lies the crux. They are not interested in avoiding problems because they know there are no problems to avoid. They want to put on a SHOW, knowing full well that that show is a lie and will entail humiliation.
In the eighties in Canada, public schools began a program of “street smarting” kids. They distributed materials and booklets to children to read as warnings of unacceptable behaviors and who commits them. I had viewed some of the booklets and was shocked to read that in every instance men were described as perpetrators. The highest risk was with those directly related to you, fathers, brothers, uncles, cousins, etc. I remember sitting in the livingroom overhearing my daughter asking her mother, “would dad ever do something like that to me”. It brought tears to my eyes. I have always been guarded about affection to my daughter since that. I never hug her, just lean forward and kiss her on the cheek. Sad.
In response to the story of teh guy in the vid that talked about being worried of accusations after givin the girl a lift along the coast. I was at a friends house for a couple of drinks and some others arrived! One girl had invited a friend from her work. The friend stayed over as did maybe three others and left in her car the next morning. When my friend went into work a couple days later she was given the cold shoulder by ALL her co-workers. After a while it transpired that her so called frriend had told the workers that she had been raped by someone at the party and that one of the girls alsdo tried to abuse her! The guy she accused of rape waqs gay and had left early that night without any probs. One of the girls who stayed over was gay but it is agreed by the others staying nothing sinister happened. A very strange situation and a very damaging tale to tell. It all camee out inn the end. All except what the bloody motivation for telling the tale was! So its possible for all sorts of damage to be doen to peoples personal and working lives just by a entirely fictitious story cooked up by someone who may have been a little deranged and was looking for attention!