It seems like you can’t go online these days without hearing about reports of sexual assault and harassment.
Society is trying to reckon with these claims and figure out how to deal with them. But not all companies and individuals are taking a sympathetic tone when it comes to the alleged victims.
Chelsea Schiffel was taking a United Airlines flight from LA to Sydney in 2014 when she was 15 years old. She has claimed that, during the flight, an elderly male passenger on the flight touched her breasts twice. This was all while her 42-year-old mother, Narelle, had gotten up out of her seat to speak to a family member who was seated in the back of the airplane.
When her mother returned, Chelsea told her about the alleged inappropriate touching, and her mother immediately reported the incident to the airline staff.
She asked to be moved to a different seat, but the airline refused and told Narelle that she and Chelsea should return to their assigned seats.
Then, Chelsea went public with her allegation. She later received a letter from United Airlines. In response to Chelsea’s allegations, the airline responded:
“The flight attendants and passengers also stated that you and your daughter were allowed to move to other seats several times, that Chelsea repeatedly moved in and out of her seat, crawling over the other customer who was attempting to sleep, and that your daughter wore extremely short shorts.”
Finally, they told her, “You have provided no evidence of any negligence on the part of United regarding this matter.”
For Chelsea and many others who have read United Airlines’ response, the reply was inappropriate.
It seemed to indicate that the airline officials believed that Chelsea’s clothes were to blame for the alleged touching. Clearly, in the current climate of sexual assault claims, this was not a popular explanation.
While countless other alleged victims’ claims have been taken seriously by officials and the media, Chelsea’s case is different. The airline seems to be writing off her claims completely. The letter also said that Chelsea and her mom had no evidence of negligence on the part of United Airlines. While that may be true, it was completely unnecessary to mention her choice of clothing in the explanation, which seems to indicate a problematic viewpoint.
The family proceeded to take legal action against United Airlines, so they could be compensated for the incident. However, because of their lack of evidence, they were unsuccessful at their goal. But since then, the story has gone viral and serves as yet another example of the kind of treatment women can receive when they report sexual misconduct violations.
While Chelsea may not get justice for the alleged harassment, she is one of countless women at the forefront of a growing movement that does not plan on slowing down anytime soon.
The #MeToo movement has people describing their experiences with sexual misconduct and how it has continued to affect them later in life. These kinds of conversations are important to have so women and men everywhere who have suffered from sexual harassment or abuse know they are not alone.
Nobody should have to suffer sexual misconduct, regardless of who they are, what they look like, or what they’re wearing. Hopefully, as people continue to talk about this issue, this sort of behavior will become more and more unacceptable in society.
Let us hope that, one day, stories like Chelsea’s will be a thing of the past.
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