美国国家公共电台 NPR 36,000 Feet In The Air, Flight Attendants And Passengers Say 'Me, Too'

 

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

The FBI is warning that reports of sexual assaults on airplanes are on the rise. That may, in part, be due to the Me Too movement which is encouraging more victims to speak out. Sometimes it's passengers who are victimized. Flight attendants are targeted, too. And as NPR's David Schaper reports, many say they have not been properly trained to handle such incidents in a confined space miles above the ground. A warning, this story includes graphic¹ descriptions of sexual harassment².

DAVID SCHAPER, BYLINE³: Allison Dvaladze works in global public health for the University of Washington's cancer center and often travels overseas. In April of 2016, she was on a Delta⁴ flight on a trip from Seattle to Africa when she says she was groped by the man seated next to her.

ALLISON DVALADZE: It was about three hours into the flight, and I was dozing⁵ off to sleep when I felt his hand in my crotch. And I - without thinking, I slapped his hand. I yelled no. I started to try to get out of my seat when he did it again.

SCHAPER: Dvaladze says she again tried to slap the man's hand away, but he groped her yet again before she was finally able to break free and run to alert the flight crew.

DVALADZE: And they expressed a lot of concern, and they were sympathetic. But at the same time, I realized nobody really knew what to do. It didn't seem that there was any protocol⁶ for how to handle this situation.

SCHAPER: Eventually, flight attendants switched her to a different seat, but Dvaladze says the crew did not contact law enforcement authorities. When she tried following up with Delta a few days later, she says she didn't hear back for a month. And then the airline apologized for the inconvenience and offered her 10,000 miles.

DVALADZE: I immediately responded and said this was not an inconvenience - that this is actually a crime. Here's the definition of sexual assault. And I - you know, I was just insulted by their response.

SCHAPER: Dvaladze is now suing Delta, and the airline would not comment because of that. In her suit, she faults Delta for inadequate⁷ training, support and protocols⁸. And many flight attendants say that's true industrywide. A recent survey by the Association of Flight Attendants found that about 1 in 5 have witnessed a passenger being sexually assaulted or had an assault reported to them. And nearly 1 in 5 flight attendants say they've been sexually assaulted in the air themselves.

TERI: I've never been formally trained on how to deal with that type of situation.

SCHAPER: This is Teri, a flight attendant for 12 years. We're not using her last name because she fears she might lose her job. That situation is one she just had a couple of weeks ago.

TERI: I encountered a gentleman - maybe in his 20s - who was laying across a row of seats on a light flight inappropriately touching⁹ himself with children sitting around him.

SCHAPER: Teri says the man had his pants unzipped and was exposing himself, and she didn't know what to do.

TERI: It's not something that you can pretend like that isn't happening.

SCHAPER: So she called out to him loudly, and he stopped. Teri says she's also been poked¹⁰ and inappropriately touched by passengers and subjected to lewd¹¹ propositions. In that flight attendant survey, nearly 70 percent say they've been sexually harassed¹² in the year, and they have little recourse.

TERI: We're at 36,000 feet with nowhere to go. So if something happens in the air, you're forced to deal with that until you're on the ground.

SCHAPER: Even though she's trained to deal with everything from births to deaths on board to potential terrorism, Teri says she's had virtually no training for something that is much more common - incidents of sexual misconduct. Sara Nelson heads the Association of Flight Attendants.

SARA NELSON: Now we're asking flight attendants, who have been survivors¹³ of this for decades, to suddenly be the enforcers on the plane when we haven't set a standard.

SCHAPER: And Nelson says that only 7 percent of flight attendants who have been harassed or abused say they've reported it to their employers.

NELSON: And what that tells us is that flight attendants don't believe that they have the backing of the airline - that if they reported this, anyone won't do anything about it.

SCHAPER: The responses of the major U.S. airlines contacted for this story vary in how they described the training they do provide. The industry group Airlines for America says its members take these matters seriously, and they support creating a task force to develop best practices and to ensure that training is in place for all flight attendants. But flight attendants say the airlines' efforts thus far to improve training and focus on sexual misconduct in particular are piecemeal¹⁴ and uneven¹⁵ at best. Allison Dvaladze, who - since being assaulted - has become an activist¹⁶ on the issue, says she'd like to see a message from the airlines at least as strong as that about another no-no on board.

DVALADZE: Everyone on a plane knows that it's illegal to tamper¹⁷ with a smoke detector¹⁸.

SCHAPER: Legislation introduced in Congress would require airlines to improve training, collect data on incidents of sexual assault and harassment and establish better reporting procedures. Supporters are hoping it can be attached to an FAA reauthorization bill that could pass this summer. David Schaper, NPR News, Chicago.

1 graphic   

adj.生动的，形象的，绘画的，文字的，图表的

参考例句：

• The book gave a graphic description of the war.这本书生动地描述了战争的情况。
• Distinguish important text items in lists with graphic icons.用图标来区分重要的文本项。

2 harassment   

n.骚扰，扰乱，烦恼，烦乱

参考例句：

• She often got telephone harassment at night these days.这些天她经常在夜晚受到电话骚扰。
• The company prohibits any form of harassment.公司禁止任何形式的骚扰行为。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 delta   

n.（流的）角洲

参考例句：

• He has been to the delta of the Nile.他曾去过尼罗河三角洲。
• The Nile divides at its mouth and forms a delta.尼罗河在河口分岔，形成了一个三角洲。

5 dozing   

v.打瞌睡,假寐 n.瞌睡

参考例句：

• The economy shows no signs of faltering. 经济没有衰退的迹象。
• He never falters in his determination. 他的决心从不动摇。

6 protocol   

n.议定书，草约，会谈记录，外交礼节

参考例句：

• We must observe the correct protocol.我们必须遵守应有的礼仪。
• The statesmen signed a protocol.那些政治家签了议定书。

7 inadequate   

adj.(for,to)不充足的，不适当的

参考例句：

• The supply is inadequate to meet the demand.供不应求。
• She was inadequate to the demands that were made on her.她还无力满足对她提出的各项要求。

8 protocols   

n.礼仪( protocol的名词复数 )；（外交条约的）草案；（数据传递的）协议；科学实验报告（或计划）

参考例句：

• There are also protocols on the testing of nuclear weapons. 也有关于核武器试验的协议。 来自辞典例句
• Hardware components and software design of network transport protocols are separately introduced. 介绍系统硬件组成及网络传输协议的软件设计。 来自互联网

9 touching   

adj.动人的，使人感伤的

参考例句：

• It was a touching sight.这是一幅动人的景象。
• His letter was touching.他的信很感人。

10 poked   

v.伸出( poke的过去式和过去分词 )；戳出；拨弄；与（某人）性交

参考例句：

• She poked him in the ribs with her elbow. 她用胳膊肘顶他的肋部。
• His elbow poked out through his torn shirt sleeve. 他的胳膊从衬衫的破袖子中露了出来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 lewd   

adj.淫荡的

参考例句：

• Drew spends all day eyeing up the women and making lewd comments.德鲁整天就盯着女人看，说些下流话。
• I'm not that mean,despicable,cowardly,lewd creature that horrible little man sees. 我可不是那个令人恶心的小人所见到的下流、可耻、懦弱、淫秽的家伙。

12 harassed   

adj. 疲倦的，厌烦的 动词harass的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He has complained of being harassed by the police. 他投诉受到警方侵扰。
• harassed mothers with their children 带着孩子的疲惫不堪的母亲们

13 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

14 piecemeal   

adj.零碎的；n.片，块；adv.逐渐地；v.弄成碎块

参考例句：

• A lack of narrative drive leaves the reader with piecemeal vignettes.叙述缺乏吸引力，读者读到的只是一些支离破碎的片段。
• Let's settle the matter at one stroke,not piecemeal.把这事一气儿解决了吧，别零敲碎打了。

15 uneven   

adj.不平坦的，不规则的，不均匀的

参考例句：

• The sidewalk is very uneven—be careful where you walk.这人行道凹凸不平—走路时请小心。
• The country was noted for its uneven distribution of land resources.这个国家以土地资源分布不均匀出名。

16 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

17 tamper   

v.干预，玩弄，贿赂，窜改，削弱，损害

参考例句：

• Do not tamper with other's business.不要干预别人的事。
• They had strict orders not to tamper with the customs of the minorities.他们得到命令严禁干涉少数民族的风俗习惯。

18 detector   

n.发觉者，探测器

参考例句：

• The detector is housed in a streamlined cylindrical container.探测器安装在流线型圆柱形容器内。
• Please walk through the metal detector.请走过金属检测器。