This must be a coincidence (after having written last week about All Nippon Airways designating one of the lavatories on each international flight as being “women only”). I was watching NGK World (which is a Japanese TV net work that also broadcasts in other countries) yesterday and they showed a short “filler” story on long-distance busses in Japan, which for reasons of price and convenience have become very popular with the traveling public.
And wouldn’t you know it? That’s right, the latest marketing gimmick is to offer “women only” busses on some of the main routes. There are of course no “men only” busses to compensate, though … the discrimination runs in one direction only.
Wow, now there’s a surprise!
Why are the new “Ladies Dream” bus runs so popular? They asked a few of the ladies on the bus and it was pretty much the same story as I reported on last week for ANA. That’s right, they “didn’t feel comfortable” having a man sit in the seat next to them.
United Airlines “Executive” Flights
That got me thinking of long ago when I was a youngster and my father told me about how United Airlines used to offer (from roughly 1954 to 1970) “male only” flights that ran between New York and Chicago (one flight at 5:00 p.m. in each direction each day).
There would be a couple of women on board, but they were stewardesses and their role was to serve the meals and of course the libations. And as it turned out, these special flights typically ran very high load factors (versus most flights back in those days prior to “deregulation”) despite United Airlines charging an extra fare supplement to take those “executive” flights.
That’s right, men were eager to pay extra not to have to share the flight with any women passengers. Imagine that … apparently, more than a few men didn’t feel comfortable if a woman sits next to them either.
Of course, the “men only” flights were ended forty years ago. Not because they weren’t popular with customers (indeed they were apparently wildly popular) but because that sort of blatant discrimination was becoming both socially and legally unacceptable as the women’s liberation movement took roots. Oddly enough, though, there seems no public outrage when this sort of sexual discrimination reappears (but in the reverse direction).
It seems to me that both genders need a break from each other fairly often. I can only relate to the male side (since that’s what I am) but I learned that lesson when I was six years old.
”Male Bonding 101”
I was staying with my grandparents in Fort Lauderdale and we had a family reunion. My parents, several aunts and uncles, and assorted siblings and cousins showed up for a week of togetherness. And one of those days, “the men of the family” had decided to do something manly. So they chartered a fishing boat and headed out toward the Bahamas to do some big-game fishing.
It was a “men only” adventure, but I had those pesky Y-chromosomes, so I qualified to go for what I anticipated would be a long day of fighting 600-pound marlins. How great of an adventure would that be for six-year-old kid?
I couldn’t wait to get started.
But it didn’t turn out that way. It started that way, as we baited the hooks and set up the fishing poles in the holders around the boat, then dropped the lines into the water. But by twenty minutes later, the “men” (the adult ones, at least) were already sitting around on deck drinking beer, swapping tales and having a grand old time.
That pretty much described the day … lots of camaraderie and male bonding (and very large amounts of the amber nectar), and no one looked at the fishing poles for the rest of the time out at sea.
I was bright enough to figure out that this was not a fishing trip gone awry … they had planned it that way. How did I know this? It was the stupendous quantity of cold beer on ice which they had brought on board that gave them away.
They had enough beer with them to do nothing but pour back one beer after another all day long, and that was how the day unfolded. The fishing was just an excuse for them to get away from “the women” for the day and let their hair down.
For appearances sake, of course, they purchased several fish from other fishing boats once we got back to the pier, took those fish back to my grandfather’s place and then claimed they had caught those fish (so as to give “the women” the misimpression that we all went for the fishing, and not for the peace and quiet from not having demanding women around causing drama and stress).
I’m guessing that United Airlines had stumbled onto that same sort of dynamic several decades ago … sometimes it’s nice to get a break from women. And it looks like the same holds true in reverse (hence the success of “Ladies Dream” bus services in Japan).
I get that … I really do.
And truth be told, it doesn’t bother me that women may need a break from us guys now and then either. I’m just a bit miffed that only they get to “discriminate” and we don’t. It would seem a lot fairer to allow some “men only” and women only” services.
Why not give both genders the chance to take a break from the other when they want one?
Stay tuned,
Mack Doppler
