"To trivialise sexual assault and rape culture so that you can 'win' a thread? "
If you think that's what I'm doing you misunderstand me.
I don't think the attitudes on this thread are a trivial thing, I think the attitudes displayed here to pregnant women, vulnerable people in general and the acceptance of the rule of wealth is part of something a larger shift in society that is significant and fundamentally damaging.
We are going through a period of change in the world where the gap between rich and poor is greater than it's ever been. Corporatisation is happening - there are already many companies that are more powerful than countries, and they are continually seeking more power. Power to make profit by exploiting ordinary people like us around the world.
And at the same time, people are becoming more unkind, less understanding, more accepting that if you pay you get respect.
The US is currently trying to get TTIP pushed through. They say it's a trade deal, but it's not. If it comes in, then our governments won't have the final say on things like school provision, health, you name it - if a company think they want a piece of the pie, and they feel it's being denied them they can sure our governments for not letting them make profit out of us.
TTIP may fail, but they'll have another crack at it. Wealth is being accumulated in the hands of the few, and their power is more far reaching - truly global - unlike anything the world has seen before.
The attitudes on this thread - that pregnant women (or other people in vulnerable groups such as the elderly) shouldn't receive special treatment, that people in business class pay not just for the added space etc but to not be disturbed by the lower classes - even a pregnant woman in discomfort and that that's OK, that the OP must be unreliable in telling her story, the guy was probably just trying to help.
Al these little things add up to a change in our society, to one which is less caring about the vulnerable in society, and which accepts that the whims of those with money trump basic things like caring for those vulnerable groups.
It's paving the way for acceptance to a world which I don't want to live in, where the corporate is king and we go round knowing our place. Fuck that.
And back to the "we believe you". I am not trivialising. Rape and sexual abuse are acts of violence, not sex. They are about abuse of power. I'm not suggesting there was any sexual angle to the FA putting his hands on the OP.
But he did put his hands on her, not a nice, friendly way as some people seem determined to reimagine it, but in a way that ended up with her crying in the toilet.
For people to turn round and say things like all FAs have always been nice to me, I don't believe you, or it must have been nicely meant, you're getting it wrong, is exactly the kind of thing women get told when they turn down unwanted sexual advances. No, it's not the same thing, it's way down the spectrum. But it is about someone in a position of power, in that context, touching the OP in a way that she did not like. Would he have done the same to a 6 foot rugby player? I doubt it? Why wouldn't he?
Was it a nice thing to touch her, or was he trying to make her move by using his hands - even if only subtly - rather than just his words?
It's not on, and we shouldn't be encouraging it.
The least he could have done is ask nicely, and that's what's missing here. The compassion. Even if you think the OP shou hldave stayed in economy, it doesn't follow that the FA should have treated her in the way he did.
He should have helped a pregnant woman in distress - even if he felt that economy as the best place to do that - not made her feel worse.