S1: E6. Sexism Takes Flight

In the 1960s, the airline industry ramped up its sexualization of stewardesses in order to increase revenues. Decades before the #MeToo movement, flight attendants navigated a workplace in which their employers required them to stay thin, remain unmarried, and squeeze into revealing clothing every day. In the early 1970s, flight attendants organized one of the first campaigns against workplace sexual harassment, assault, and sexual discrimination.

Hosts and Creators: Gillian Frank and Lauren Gutterman.

Producers: Rebecca Davis, Saniya Lee Ghanoui and Devin McGeehan Muchmore. 

Music:  “Superchick Theme,” “Female Animal,” “Fly Me Theme.”

“Lacquer-Groove,” “Peacoat,” “Chilvittle,” “Bidous Transit,” “Thread of Clouds,” “That Horse Ithica,” “Stale Case,” “In Paler Skies,” and “Spins and Never Falls,” by Blue Dot Sessions. 

Our appreciation goes out to Kathleen Heenan, Cindy Hounsell, and Patricia Ireland for speaking with us.

Many thanks to Phil Tiemeyer, author of Plane Queer, for sharing his expertise on the airline industry with us.

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We invite you to click this link to read a rough transcript of this episode.

Selected Readings