Men Automatically Guilty

According to the Department of Health and Human Services, "57.8 percent of child abuse and neglect perpetrators were females and 42.2 percent were males." As such, consider the following:

Frances Kemp booked an aisle seat on a recent British Airways (BA) flight because she had a bad leg that required extra space. Her 76-year-old husband Michael occupied the middle seat. A nine-year-old girl took the window position. When a stewardess asked Frances to switch seats with her husband, she declined.

The stewardess explained that the seating arrangement breached the airline's child-welfare regulations and moved the child. Michael is a retired journalist with no criminal record; he made no contact-physical or verbal-with the girl; no complaint or request to move was received; the child's mother was elsewhere on the plane. The girl's welfare was deemed to be in peril solely because Michael was male.

Apparently, airlines have been enforcing male gender discrimination of this nature for years. It's been largely under the radar since it's imposed typically during seat assignment.

Airlines readily admit the bias. Men are considered dangerous potential pedophiles automatically and discriminated against accordingly.

If an airline restricted the seating of blacks because the 2004 Bureau of Justice data states "blacks [are] disproportionately represented among homicide victims and offenders", there would be a backlash of rage.

Also, imagine the scenario where every Muslim is considered a potential terrorist and denied boarding without a completed cavity strip-search.

Painting men automatically dangerous is irrational, insulting and sets a precedent frought with unintended consequences. What's next? Men not being allowed to be seated adjacent to children at baseball games or in theaters? Men denied careers in teaching and counseling? Nobody can be sure how far this politically correct belief will go but one thing is certain. Men will likely develop an aversion to being around children for fear of being labeled a pervert.

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