According to this article, some airlines are starting to enforce policies that children shouldn’t be seated next to unrelated men, because you never know what might happen . . .
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.
I suspect two reasons for creating (and enforcing) such a stupid policy.
My philosphy of logic course is many years behind me, so forgive me if I don't set up the logic properly, but here's a try:
(1) nearly all sexual predators are male;
(2) nearly all suicide bombers are muslim;
(3) therefore all muslims are terrorists and all males are sexual predators.
OR
Some religion requires us to believe that all males are bad. Take for example Orthodox Judaism. Women must cover their hair and wear long sleeves not because to do otherwise is indiscreet, but because men cannot be trusted to control themselves.
An Orthodox friend assures me repeatedly that the rules governing women's behavior is not an attempt to demean or diminish the importance of women, but because men are uncontrollable beasts. He hasn't explained why it wouldn't be easier just to control men by making them stay home behind locked doors or bars.