Relax - Ex-air stewardess reveals sexual harassment tales

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Each time before boarding the plane, former air stewardess-turned-writer Yvonne Lee (above) used to pray for safety - not from potential air disasters but from the opposite sex.

"Sexual harassment was prevalent in the 80s," says Lee, who left the aviation industry in 1995 after six years to start a family.

"In fact, it was so prevalent that you can ask any stewardess who worked at the time and they will tell you the same stories."

In her new book Madness Aboard! Welcome to Plane Insanity, Lee, 40, recounts her own tale with a liberal dose of humour. She tells of how a chief steward called "Joe Square Jaw" had attempted to put the moves on her in the cargo hold.

"I felt a strange erected pressure against the small of my back. If I remember correctly, it was the same kind of pressure I had felt when I was among the sardine-packed commuters on a bullet train in Tokyo. Some Japanese pervert had jacked up against my butt. Then it quickly occurred to me that this was no bullet train but a deserted cargo hold where only one other person existed! Joe Square Jaw!" writes Lee.

"I may be laughing about it now, but back then, it was a really traumatic experience," says Lee. "I didn't know what to do, as it was my first job. I didn't know a thing about sexual harassment."

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More than a decade may have gone by but little, apparently, has changed within the aviation industry. In its report entitled Sexual harassment culture shatters illusion of high life, UK daily The Independent stated that in a survey of 2,000 women who worked for a national airline, more than one in five said they had suffered sexual harassment from passengers.

Surprisingly, however, the threat was greater still from the male members of the crew. Almost half of the women said they had had to put up with offensive remarks or lewd behaviour by colleagues or superiors. More than one in 10 said they had had to fend off a colleague in the past 12 months, and in a third of the cases, the incident was of the most severe type.

"The prey was always the rookie stewardess," writes Lee. "It was as if it was a time before modern civilisation and the stewardesses were viewed like cattle stock. Whether pilots, stewards or passengers, they ogled at a newbie like she was a walking piece of prime steak, a Chateaubriand with a chignon and in heels... It was demeaning."

In the now infamous memoir Coffee, Tea or Me?, one of the co-authors reports the following response to her complaint of sexual molestation during an emergency landing: "You know, Trudy, we can't have an unhappy, unsmiling stewardess serving our valued travellers, can we? We can recommend you a good psychiatrist who might help you become once again the happy smiling stewardess you were."

>>Next: "A male passenger touched my behind"

Sex or safety?

So why do flight attendants make such appealing targets for sexual harassment?

The answer may lie in the advertising, according to the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF). The ITF report states, "There's not an airline out there that hasn't at some time sought to exploit the notion that air travel includes being served by a physically attractive hostess."

For instance, Singapore International Airlines (SIA) has constructed its entire corporate image around its "Singapore girls" - so famous that in 1993 a reproduction of "the girl" became the first commercial icon to be placed in Madame Tussaud's waxworks museum in London.

And just two years ago, Virgin Atlantic's anniversary TV ad campaign featured crowds lusting after its female cabin crew.

Sexism, it seems, is still flourishing despite decades of feminist rhetoric. Not only that, women's charms and sexuality are being commoditised in an industry where safety, and not looks, are supposed to matter.

"Gorgeous air stewardesses... I think a majority of passengers have come to expect that," agrees flight attendant Max Foo, 26. "In fact, I have friends who said they preferred Asian airlines compared to Western ones because the latter were full of old, matronly women."

Lee, however, believes that blatant sexism is a thing of the past. After all, she toiled at a time when "stewardesses were suspended over trivial matters like having acne, short hair or even unvarnished nails."

"It's much more relaxed now," says Lee. "Just the other day, I overheard an ah pek (elderly man) asking his wife why none of the stewardesses on board were pretty."

Some of these demanding male passengers could prove to be a real nuisance, especially when they're drunk. In a report compiled by the ITF, a stewardess came forward with this story: "A male passenger touched my behind. I told him, you do that again and I will slap you. I asked the other passengers to be witness to his behaviour and, in the end, I had to slap him. Of course, sometimes you're afraid you might lose your job."

Senior flight attendant Annie Teo, 46, has had a number of randy passengers come on to her, but she knows that they usually mean no harm. It's her colleagues that she's worried about.

"It's as if normal rules don't apply when you're 40,000ft (12,192m) in the air," she says. "This problem is further exacerbated during the layover period, when you're in a foreign land with co-workers who are virtual strangers. There was a lot of hard partying going on."

Throughout her 16-year career, Teo has seen her fair share of scandals.

"It used to be that your senior would force you to smoke, drink and even sleep with them. If you didn't comply, they would make your life hell," she says. "I found it really difficult to hold on to myself during the first few years of work. I had to do double the amount of work simply because I didn't want to join in. No one would talk to me."

Not everyone could withstand the pressure, however. One of Teo's friends finally relented after months of torment from her sleazy supervisor.

"She told me she felt dirty every time she put on her uniform so she quit her job," says Teo, adding that she has received - and rejected - similar advances from her captain.

In Lee's opinion, the airline industry operates based on a strict hierarchical system, whereby seniors feel they have every right to exert their seniority over the rest of the crew.

"A colleague of mine was terrified because the head steward wouldn't stop knocking on her hotel door in the middle of the night. When she didn't respond, he taunted her in front of everyone the next morning. It got so bad that she cried every single day," says Lee.

These cases may not make newspaper headlines, but word gets around on who the top predators are, says Teo.

"We have an unofficial list of our own," she says. "There's a Top Five Captains List and a Top Five Supervisors List. We're very cautious with those who make the list."

>>Next: "The supervisor who raped my friend is still working"

Too close for comfort

While a report by The Age, an Australian daily, says the airline industry is trying hard to banish the stereotype that all flight attendants are flirty and promiscuous, these stereotypes still exist, especially among crew members themselves.

"You would think that what happened in the 80s would not happen today, but the sad truth is that it is," says Teo. "It's still normal for a male captain or steward to refer to a stewardess as a 'crew meal', meaning that she's an easy lay. That's the first thing they look out for in a flight - a stewardess that they can makan ("eat") and pass on to their colleagues. They think it's funny."

Teo reveals that such unfortunate incidences still occur because sexual predators who were around 10 years ago are still around today.

"No action has been taken against them," she says. "The supervisor who raped my friend is still working, even though he has amassed a string of cases over the years. He even got promoted recently. I think it's because he has strong ties with the human resources department."

Nevertheless, she admits that working conditions have somewhat improved since the implementation of more stringent laws governing sexual harassment at the workplace.

"These days, the company will take strict action against the accused if he is found guilty. I know of several people who were fired because of this. If the same thing were to happen several years ago, the company would've tried to cover up the case," she says.

To its credit, one local carrier is also taking proactive steps to educate their employees on sexual harassment by distributing leaflets on the crime. Teo reveals that, prior to that, a shocking number of stewardesses weren't clear as to what constituted sexual harassment.

"We thought it only covered the act of rape," she says. "We didn't know we could file a case against our seniors if they 'accidentally' brushed against us or said something lewd. If I had known, I would've done something when my captain behaved appallingly."

Lee, who believes that a little education goes a long way, explains why: "Today's flight attendants know their rights and don't take crap from anyone. They're not as timid as my generation. That's why I hear their male colleagues are less pushy these days."

Nevertheless, Teo claims a lot more could be done, especially among the local airline companies, as presently there are no laws to protect the victim and nowhere for her to run to for advice or assistance if something happens.

"Usually, we're advised to lodge a complaint in the office instead of taking matters to the police," she says. "If the victim does this, however, the office would require both her and her perpetrator to be present for an investigation. What if the perpetrator isn't penalised for his actions and decides to make her pay for what she's done?"

According to Foo, a sexual harassment lawsuit may contain a lot of grey areas.

"Let's say a man and a woman go out drinking, get drunk and return to the man's room. The next day, the woman cries rape. But the man could always turn around and say she was leading him on. What happens then? That's why a lot of cases go unreported," he says.

Teo agrees, saying that it's a case of "her word against his". But therein lies the problem: Who would you believe? The rookie stewardess who's been around for six months, or the captain who's been flying for six years?

Meanwhile, Foo says that male flight attendants are also sexually harassed from time to time, but airline companies are not taking such matters seriously.

"I've lost count of how many times another male colleague had tried to grope or rub against me," he says. "I was bemused at first, but now I'm just angry. In class, they teach the girls some basic precautionary measures they can use to avoid salacious advances but, when it comes to the men, we're usually on our own. Management makes a big joke out of it (homosexuality)."

Foo, however, emphasises that sexual harassment is not limited to his line of work.

"I've heard that the medical and banking sector are just as scandalous but these stories are not as widely publicised," he says. "At the end of the day, we're just normal human beings. Most of us just want to make a decent living and go back to our families."

Ex-air stewardess reveals sexual harassment tales

By Louisa Lim, The Star | Mon, Jan 24 2011

In her new book Madness Aboard! Welcome to Plane Insanity, Yvonne Lee, tells of her sexual harassment experience with much humour.

Ex-air stewardess reveals sexual harassment tales

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