Should Southwest Airlines ban women passengers who show too much

Yes

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by Arthur Gibson

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It is the right of a business to ban individuals from their premises when certain rules of propriety are broken. However, it is the responsibility of that business to make certain that their rules are posted where they can easily be examined by the public at large. And in the case of the incident with Southwest Airlines, the decision should have been made by their check in personnel, or in the waiting room prior to boarding the plane, and not on the plane by a stewardess. And the individual who is being denied access to the flight should be told of the reason as privately as possible, to avoid embarrassment and a possible scene, and the opportunity to change into more appropriate attire.

Many businesses, particularly restaurants, refuse to serve patrons who are improperly dressed and this seldom causes an issue. But, most restaurants, have signs posted at or near the entrance allowing the public to know what is expected. Obviously, no one would want to eat in a place where a large, hairy man is sitting bare chested or in a tank top. Or in a restaurant where a number of patrons are sitting in their bare feet. In most instances a little "common sense" goes a long way. And that is part of the problem today. Too few people have "common sense" anymore or have any idea of what "common sense" is.

And I do agree with another writer, who stated that if a business is going to have rules for the way a woman dresses, they need to have rules for men also. Nothing is more unattractive than to see a young adult or teenage man wearing bagging jeans pulled halfway down their thighs with their boxer shorts showing. Yet too many of us are forced to see this fashion statement on a daily basis.

I'm fairly certain that no one would even be discussing this issue, if it had concerned a loud, belligerent, drunken individual, man or woman. First of all few people I know want to spend 2 or 3 hours or more sitting next to a loud mouth drunk. Likewise, few families who are flying with children want to be continually telling their children not to stare at someone who is dressed inappropriately. And again this could be either a man or woman.

Part of the problem is the way many airlines had their stewardesses dressing just a few short years ago. I can remember flights I was on in the military when all of the stewardesses were showing lots of cleavage and were wearing very short skirts. But, that was back when the majority of the stewardesses seemed to be in their early to mid twenties and thirties. Today's stewardesses and stewards seem to be a more mature group and the airlines are having them dress, not only more age appropriate, but more appropriately for the comfort of all their passengers.

Finally, this and other problems of appropriate decorum could be solved by parents being more involved in the dress of their children. If today, as in the mid twentieth century, individuals had been taught how to dress when in public there would be no problem. Let's face it some clothing is appropriate for a singles bar, but not the public at large.

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