worried about DD/DS being molested on plane? plane has more chance of crashing!

[ManfredMann]

www.theotherglassceiling.com/2014/05/sexism-paternalism-flying-high-what-are.html

give the blokes a break !

[Toadinthehole]

Well come on everyone! Hands up who thinks I should have been moved away from my daughters?

Perhaps I should have been given a chaperone instead?

[AnotherFurry]

I would be very angry if my DH was asked to move and I hate the notion that I would care for a child sat next to me because I am a women.

[NCISaddict]

I would hate to be sat by a random child on a flight because I would feel obligated to care for them, I hate flying and just want to read or sleep and would feel I couldn't if there was a young child sitting next to me without parents/guardians. Not sure what I could do about it though if it was forced on me but I would be very pissed off.

Toad I think you should have been offered a nanny and moved to first class then you would be out of the way of pesky children or at least that's what I fantasised about when I had to travel with DC's when they were younger.

[SpeedwellBlue]

Toads I don't think this is about dads and daughters

[GreatAuntDinah]

Is the risk of dying in a plane crash really one in 7,800? That seems very high to me.

[thebodylovesspring]

My youngest is now 14 so I certainty wouldn't want some random child sat next to me and be expected to look after it thank you very much.

Been there done that. Fuck off.

[Toadinthehole]

speedwell

The logic is though.

The point made above is that unaccompanied children should not travel next to male strangers despite the risk of molestation being tiny, as any reduction in the level of risk is worthwhile.

Most molestation is committed by family members.

So I'll have my nanny and first class seat please.

[thebodylovesspring]

Toads agree it's ridiculous.

[IfNotNowThenWhen]

Hmm. I dunno. If 90% of molesters are male, then, yeah, I can see why people would prefer a woman to sit next to their child. It's not saying "all men are abusers" just "almost all sexual abusers are men".
Having said that, sexual abuse does normally occur within families, so the chances of a child being abused on a plane by a stranger are slight, but if it did happen then it would almost certainly be by a man.
I am sure that the airlines have the policy for other reasons though (like not wanting allegations, and because they think women will be more helpful)
Incidentally,I find it odd that the article says sexual abuse is a truly rare event,( based on the official US statistics of sexual abusers.) Sexual abuse of children is, sadly, not very rare at all, and not every abuser is registered!

[aurynne]

I was once told by the airline that me seat had been changed. Once in the plane, I found out I had been moved to be seated between two babes in arms and a toddler. This was a 30 hours flight from New Zealand to London. I made a big fuss about it and just insisted on seating on my previously allocated seat (there were no other free seats in the plane). When the person who had been allocated my previous seat turned up, surprise surprise, it was a man. Fortunately for me, he was quite obese and happy to sit between the babes in arms as he would have more leg space there. Thank fuck! I could hear the babies crying and the toddler yelling from my seat, 7 rows behind them, for the majority of the flight.

I have no interest in "caring" for anyone else's child in a plane, thank you very much. I won't move either. If the airline does not want children sitting with men, it is their problem, not mine.

[thebodylovesspring]

aurynne totally agree. Bloody cheek.

[treaclesoda]

sexual abuse itself is sadly not that rare but I'm fairly sure that sexual abuse by a random stranger is actually quite rare. I'm not saying it doesn't happen at all, but the real threat to children normally lies much closer to home.

[turgiday]

If you really believe only 1 in 5,000 men is a potential sexual abuser, you are mad. We know that anything from 1 in 10 to 2 in 10 children are sexually abused. The risks of an unaccompanied child being sexually abused on a plane may be low, but they are higher than this insane figure makes out.

[turgiday]

And teenage girls are routinely sexually harassed by men they don't know. Catcalls and inappropriate remarks from men they don't know, are very common. The risk of sexual assault may not be that high, the risk of creepy inappropriate comments probably is high.

[fifi669]

The idea of a random stranger abusing a child, in the public domain of a plane cabin wouldn't occur to me. If for some unknown reason my DC had to fly alone and I had to pick a passenger to sit next to them I'd want an older lady. Just because they tend to like children and fussing after them. The granny effect. Men are generally less patient with children.

[fifi669]

That said although I would mother any DC sat with me I'd prefer to be in absolute terror fly in peace

[PrincessBabyCat]

^Princess why would you rather your child be sat next to a woman?
And you say your DH would prefer not to be sat next to someone else's child - why do you think random women would be any happier?^

Not all men are predators, but most predators are men. If I had to pick a preference I would go with the one statistically less likely to prey on my daughter. Also, generally speaking a woman is more likely to be more pleasant and patient with my daughter than a man. You don't really see men working in daycare very often (and maybe it's the hysteria, but it could be they genuinely aren't interested).

I'm not particularly worried about something like this happening to be honest. Also, most kids I've sat next to are absorbed in their tablets or handhelds. :)

[turgiday]

I remember on a thread like this before, a MNer saying she was molested on a plane by a man. It may be rare, but why when it is so simple to sit a child next to a woman rather than a man, would you not do that?

[princessdesert]

I wouldn't make a huge fuss if it wasn't possible but even as an adult I ask not to be seated next to men.
When I was in my teens I boarded and went to see my folks in HK at the holidays. Once I woke to a man sneaking up his hand up my top under my airline blanket . Another time a gross guy was wanking in the window seat when I was a seat away .Both times I complained and
was moved but in the 1980's nothing
further was done.

We now live in the Middle East and it is common for ladies to not be seated with
guys on religious grounds so if you request to be moved it is not a problem.

[TessOfTheFurbyvilles]

My seat was reallocated once, so I was next to an unaccompanied minor, instead of the male passenger who had booked the seat I ended up in.

This reorganizing was done before we boarded the flight, so I got no choice in the matter, I was just informed of the change by the stewardess when I boarded.

Never mind the fact I'm 6ft 2 with very long legs, and had specifically booked a seat with more legroom, but was now stuck in a more cramped seat. When I protested, I was told they wouldn't reorganize again, now the flight was boarded.

So not only did I have to spend a ten hour flight entertaining someone else's kid (this was before tablets and whatnot), I was bloody uncomfortable the whole flight.

It wasn't being seated next to the kid that bothered me though, it was more the fact they refused to change the seats again, so I didn't get the extra legroom I'd booked (and needed).

[CalamitouslyWrong]

But turgid, I was molested on a plane by a woman. You can't necessarily trust all women.

The incredibly small increase in risk of a child being molested by a man seat next to them on a plane in comparison to a woman is just insignificant. It's like comparing the risk of being eaten by a shark to the risk of being eaten by a lion.

[turgiday]

Of course you cant. But since you cant do CRB checks on passengers, you look at what is statistically safest, and it is statistically safer for a child to sit next to a woman.

I really don't understand the issue with this. You have parents on this site who won't let teenagers go places unsupervised. And yet suggest sitting an unaccompanied child next to a woman rather than a man, and you are seen as being alarmist.

[CalamitouslyWrong]

Just because one us lower than the other doesn't mean the difference matters in statistical terms. The problem us people don't have a good enough understanding of statistics to understand this.

You are statistically more likely to be killed by a dog than a shark. But I don't see anyone using that as a basis to ban keeping dogs as pets.

[Pipbin]

Ladies, I'm going to let you into a secret,

Not all men are child molesters. I know, it's shocking isn't it.

[turgiday]

Don't be so bloody patronising Pipbin.