Lili Bee would like us to think through the implications of allowing pornography on plane flights.

First published at:
http://goodmenproject.com/newsroom/porn-on-planes/

Ryanair, the most successful airline in Europe, which is also seeking to expand into the US, wants to offer porn apps to their passengers for their in-flight ‘entertainment’.

CEO Michael O’Leary is looking to launch an in-flight web offer that includes games, gambling and porn. When questioned by The Sun about the porn app, O’Leary responded with,“Hotels around the world have it, so why wouldn’t we?”

One has to seriously wonder if the man is daft, or if he’s putting us on since the obvious difference is that hotel rooms offer privacy, and planes are anything but. And you thought the extremely weight-challenged person next to you spilling over into your seat was a problem?

Porn viewing on airplanes isn’t all that new, actually. But airlines like JetBlue, Qantas and others have filtered out some content on incoming web traffic in the past.

Passengers aren’t the only ones likely to be offended by a fellow passenger’s pornography viewing. Pornography on flights has been, pardon the pun, a hotly contested issue for flight attendants in the past.They already feel that budget and staff cuts are stretching them extremely thin without now also having to attend to frequent customer complaints about the rude dude being lewd sitting next to them.

Some have argued that this move, if it goes through, really wouldn’t change much since some airlines already allow unfiltered internet access. You can load your tablet up with pornography at home, and watch it on a flight. Under current rules, however, any passengers offended by another’s breech of common courtesy would be able to get a flight attendant to intervene. Federal regulations require passengers to comply with flight crew’s instructions and any extreme offenders who don’t comply, can be arrested upon landing.

The difference now would be that if the airline itself issues the apps, would the flight attendants be instructed to ignore passengers complaints in deference to those having purchased the right to watch pornography? Why bother selling an app, only to then have to accommodate those complaining about it? Seems a rather obvious conflict of interest would present itself.

Imagine being with a child and having a porn-viewing passenger seated next to you. Or being one of the many who struggle in recovery from compulsive porn use. Or the elderly. Or, for that matter, anyone with any sense at all who knows that public spaces aren’t for private activities.

On a youtube clip, Michael O’Leary tells a journalist at a press conference in Dusseldorf that he plans to have blowjobs offered on long-haul flights. I won’t include the link here because I don’t want to reward his low-brow antics by bumping up the number of hits on this youtube clip.

He also unveiled a glossy calendar for charity this year featuring photos of the Ryanair flight attendants wearing nothing but tiny bikinis and platform heels, which, though obviously sexist, seems almost quaint by comparison to his other attempts to get publicity.

When I wrote here in July that I see increasing signs of raunch culture invading our everyday life, I got plenty of commenters arguing with my perspectives and calling me prude, uptight and conservative, labels that entertain my friends no end. Now, this latest move by Ryanair only bolsters my view that decorum is quickly becoming a thing of the past. I have petitioned Ryanair to ditch their ill-fated publicity stunt and my friends have done the same.

One could easily decide to boycott this airline but what precedent would Ryanair be setting if they’re allowed to go through with this? How long before U.S. airlines would follow suit? This would be yet another egregious example of our rights to public decency being not so subtly eroded.

I also think that the more public pornography becomes, the less private masturbation will become.

Line to the bathroom on the plane too long? Simply throw your jacket over your lap and hope the lady next to you is really asleep. Considering that Ryanair is also the same airline that has threatened to introduce pay-per-use lavatories as a way to cut costs, is this scenario so hard to imagine?

I know a man who is now in his forties that was spotted masturbating in his car in a deserted parking lot with no houses anywhere around. He got arrested and to this day, he is a registered sex offender, a stigma that will shadow him his entire life. I hate to be the turd in the punchbowl here, but masturbation, and however you think about that personally, becomes a serious legal issue if it happens in public.

What do you think?

Should airlines discourage pornography usage onboard?

Should it be a flight attendant’s job to be a police person?

Would you knowingly choose an airline if you knew there was no enforcement against pornography viewing on board?