In the sixties and seventies of the last century, the myth of the "promiscuous heavenly waitress" who was supposed to satisfy the whims of travelers, was globally widespread. However, a group of activists, who called themselves "Stewardesses for Women's Rights", changed history, writes "National Geographic".

If you search for "flight attendant assault" on an internet search engine, you may be in for a real nasty surprise. Namely, just in the past few years, one can easily find dozens of cases of violence against the female part of the cabin crew, inspired by many different motives, during different flights around the world.

However, this is not a recent phenomenon. The author Nell Wolfkart, who introduces us to the evolution of part of the airline industry in her book "The Great Stewardess Rebellion", says that just over fifty years ago, male passengers' "inappropriate" behavior towards flight attendants was common. During the flight, the men repeatedly belittled, insulted, inappropriately touched and even physically assaulted the flight attendants at their workplace. But to make matters worse – all this often happened with the tacit approval of the airlines.

And while these women suffered various forms of violence, airlines did not advertise their services based on the destinations or safety records of their flights, but on the beauty of the flight attendants they employed. In the last century, these women were the "main export brand" of the powerful airlines. The bodies and faces of the beautiful flight attendants occupied the front pages and center stage of almost all the airline's television commercials.

Sexualized ads

In the seventies of the last century, an American airline dressed its flight attendants in tight and short orange pants and "go-go" boots. On the other hand, another airline experimented with "western" outfits, while a third went even further, designing paper uniforms for its employees.

However, this was only the beginning. Very soon, advertisements focused exclusively on cabin crew members appeared in the public domain. A very popular airline has achieved huge success with its "Fly Me" campaign, in which flight attendants look seductively at the camera and invite the audience to fly with them. For example – “I'm Judy. "Fly me."

However, the more provocative and sexualized the ads, and the skimpier the uniforms, the harder it was for flight attendants to get passengers to take them seriously. During the flights, the men misbehaved with them and touched them. However, violence against flight attendants peaked in 1967 when, during an evacuation, a passenger pulled a flight attendant and then threw her off the plane, telling her, "You shouldn't be here."

At times, the airlines themselves have unequivocally "offered" their flight attendants as sex objects. In the mid-seventies, the management of a company made a decision by which their flight attendants had to greet men with a kiss on the cheek at the entrance of the plane.

During that period, many planes also had their own cocktail bars. Passengers drank a lot, threw piss on the floor and, of course, insulted the flight attendants. For this reason, a rebellion arose among airline workers, who protested, and soon after, the rule to control alcohol sold during flights came into force.

Flight attendants fight back

In 1972, enraged by the behavior of passengers and airlines - their controversial advertisements and "cute" uniforms - a group of women calling themselves the "Stewardesses for Women's Rights" decided to fight back. They took to the streets, marching in front of the marketing agencies in New York that created these sexist campaigns.

"Airlines turn us into sex objects." You lose your self-respect. People don't think of you as a professional, so you don't even think of yourself as a professional anymore," one of the group's founders, Sandra Jarrell, told the Los Angeles Times in 1972.

The women especially hated the play on words hidden in the slogan: "Fly Me" ("Fly me"), so they displayed banners that read: "Go Fly Yourself!" ("Go and fly yourself!"). They also filmed and aired multiple counter-ads showing how treating flight attendants as sex objects puts customers at risk.

From 1972 to 1976, the "Stewardesses for Women's Rights" organized boycotts of various companies and made sure the media learned about their efforts.

Their fight is still going on

Although the era of sexist campaigning is long over, the myth of the "promiscuous heavenly waitress" lives on to this day. However, the decades-long struggle for respect for flight attendants has paid off. Their activism resulted in the first federal law regulating smoking in the workplace in 1989. In 2003, after the 11/XNUMX terrorist attacks, the nation was forced to reevaluate airline security, and flight attendants' rights activists finally convinced Congress to license them as security professionals.

The fight against violent passengers is still ongoing. The Flight Attendants Association, the nation's largest such union, has asked the US Congress to create a no-fly list for all airlines. These activists regularly inform the media about how the public treats them, while attending self-defense classes has practically become an indispensable part of their profession.

Although even today's violence against flight attendants is disturbing, a much smaller number of people still perceive these workers as "dolls" to satisfy the whims of passengers. Today's flight attendants are following in the footsteps of their predecessors, using unions, the media and the law to fight for their rights.

Interview with Sandra Kirkov, former flight attendant: A smile is very important!