“It’s Time for A Women-Only Section on Planes.”
Jackie Reddy December 13, 2018
While the #MeToo movement shows little sign of stopping, Kate Whitehead, a columnist writing in the South China Morning Post, says that the armrest is the latest battleground for gender equality. Whitehead says that she, “dreams of a future in which there are women-only seating sections on planes.”
The airplane armrest is the latest battleground for gender equality, states Hong Kong-based journalist Kate Whitehead.
Writing in the South China Morning Post, she equates some male passengers’ use of the armrest to a kind of man-spreading for those female passengers who are seated near them.
“Nine times out of 10 – based on my extensive experience flying “cattle class” – if a man is seated beside a woman he will claim the armrest. Not only that, but his elbow will protrude slightly into the woman’s seat space. Unless you are prepared to press your arm against the man’s – which will allow you to feel the rise and fall of his breath and is, I feel, too intimate a connection with a stranger – then you have lost two inches of your seat,” Whitehead writes.
She goes on to say that those women who are unlucky enough to find themselves placed between two men have given up a substantial proportion of their seat while “paying the same price as those space-invading men.”
“I dream of a future in which there are women-only seating sections on planes. Most women intuitively understand that the armrest is “neutral territory” and leave it as a slim buffer between them and their neighbor. I’d be prepared to campaign vocally for “pink rows”, but I suspect airlines wouldn’t be in favor because that would mean other rows full only of men – and that wouldn’t work. Men – and airlines – depend on encroachment onto women’s seats for comfortable travel,” Whitehead adds.
[Photo: Shutterstock]
The actual article is actually even more absurd than this summary with Kate (the author) calling for "pink Rows" on the planes and stating clearly that it is only that hog the armrests, etc. I fly extensively too and mostly in coach and my experience is that yes, men do most of the armrest hogging because the majority of flyers are men. And they aren't doing it because the person next to them is a woman, they do it because they are rude and inconsiderate and feel entitled. I am an man and have had many other men overlapping armrests into my space. Sometimes I simply give them a nice elbow to claim my space, sometimes I speak to them directly. That said, I have also had women overlap into my seat with their arms, hair, and a couple time lean on me as they fell asleep. A couple of these wome seems to have the opinion that I wouldn't mind because she was a woman and I was a man. Please tell me, what part of the #MeToo movement says that is ok? This article is yet another example of falsely claiming that bad behavior by men is (1) only done by men and (2) directed at women. Both of these assumptions are blatantly false and do more harm to the #MeToo and related movements.
1st, there is no difference in gender but only personality about the armrest struggle. 2nd, this issue reminds me when on a domestic flight in Saudi Arabia a man refused to sit beside a woman. I was shocked but it looks like some female activists are having the same middle age mind. We should not give up the aquisition of modern thinking to narrow minded people.
SJW nonsense. What a non-article. Men can't help having broader shoulders. What can be fixed is the width of airline seats.
This has got to be one of the biggest pieces of horse s*** ever posted on this site. When I am next to a woman I go out of my way to save the armrest for her. And being 6'2", 220#'s with broad shoulders that is hard to do. And we wonder why some people are saying the #metoo movement has gone too far.
Special women/men-with-children-under-12 sections too. Right next to the toilets.