A Powerful Twitter Thread On Dealing With Airplane Creepers

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mattstaff
Jun 4, 2019 9:00 AM EDT

A brave young journalist named Joanna Chiu has a Twitter thread going viral. It's about stepping in when you see a despicable creeper doing their creepy thing out in public. This kind of courageous heroism is an inspiration, and sets the tone for how other people should handle creepers if/when they catch them out in public. 

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  • 01
    Text - Joanna Chiu @joannachiu 1h t16K 32K Thread about airplane creeps: I'm on a plane from a late- evening stopover from and was very tired and had a row to myself to sleep but couldn't avoid noticing what was going on in the row behind me.
    via @joannachiu
  • 02
    Text - Joanna Chiu @joannachiu 1 t351 3.8K A man appearing in his late thirties was obviously delighted to be seated next to a teenager separated from the rest of her family. He started off by asking about her career plans and laughed when she said she wanted to be CEO and kept giving her ridiculous advice.
    via @joannachiu
  • 03
    Text - Joanna ChiuRR @joannachiu 1h t 336 4.0K She was friendly and he seemed to take that as a welcome cue to get very familiar and started teasing her and kept saying that he wanted to take her out to eat, which she was ignoring. At this point I had to stay awake in case anything went further than that.
    via @joannachiu
  • 04
    Text - Joanna Chiu R t376 5.0K @joannachiu 1h It did, and as soon as he asked for a "dirty" photo while leaning close to her I turned around and rage-whispered exactly what I thought of that and he didn't say anything back and went off to use the washroom.
    via @joannachiu
  • 05
    Text - Joanna Chiu @joannachiu 11h t348 4.8K Another woman seated behind him was listening and monitoring too and while the man was gone she let the teen know that she had the right to change seats and that she was just behind her if she needed any help. I went to get a flight attendant and informed her of what was going on
    via @joannachiu
  • 06
    Text - Joanna Chiu @joannachiu 1 t403 6.6K They checked other witness accounts and the head of the flight service (a woman) asked the man to move. He resisted then started swearing at me and asked to talk to the boss and the head flight attendant said "I'm the boss, this is really serious and we could land the plane."
    via @joannachiu
  • 07
    Text - Joanna ChiuH t 435 11K @joannachiu 11h He moved. The attendants checked in with the young woman and wrote up a report. They handled the situation well as far as I could tell, and it's good to know other adult women passengers on the plane were paying attention and taking action while trying not to embarrass the teen.
    via @joannachiu
  • 08
    Text - Joanna ChiuA @joannachiu 1 t 951 13K But none of the male passengers seemed to show they noticed what was going on. Maybe fellow women are more likely to pick up on warning signs early on in the conversation because we used to be teenage girls too?
    via @joannachiu
  • 09
    Text - Joanna ChiuH @joannachiu 1 t247 4.2K The first time I traveled without my parents the man next to me spoke with me most of the flight, which made me feel adult and important, and he said things like I must be flirting because I was touching the zipper on my jacket. To his credit he stopped and later looked ashamed.
    via @joannachiu
  • 10
    Text - Joanna ChiuA @joannachiu 11h t 279 4.0K The second time I traveled alone an older man truck up a convo while we waited for boarding and he asked about many details of my travels then kissed me without my consent. I was too shocked to say anything.
    via @joannachiu
  • 11
    Text - Joanna Chiu @joannachiu 1 t1.6K 11K All adults need to be on guard and know there are things we can do to intervene even when a crime hadn't technically been committed yet. Men need to figure out how to "spot creeps" in their vicinity as well and men can help too to prevent harassment or assault.
    via @joannachiu
  • 12
    Text - Joanna Chiu @joannachiu 1h t 425 5.5K It's so disturbing there are predatory people out there who act like they have no idea what they're doing is wrong. It's unclear if the man is going to be monitored by flight crew the next time he flies.
    via @joannachiu
  • 13
    Text - Joanna Chiu @joannachiu 1 284 6.4K Just walked off the plane and security was ready to pull him aside to talk to him and he looked like he was sweating bullets.
    via @joannachiu
  • 14
    Text - haak
    via @joannachiu
  • 15
    Text - Thank you for your care and class! Merci de votre soin et classe! Thank you so much for being our eyes and cars during flight! this As a creuw, we appreciare your COncern tor the young lody, arnd as a resolt helped Situation OS put a Stop to a very a uneomfortable
    via @joannachiu
  • 16
    Text - Joanna Chiu Follow @joannachiu I don't want to say name of airline because journalists have to be careful not to make endorsements but just want to say that this Canadian airline crew handled the situation so well Workplaces, schools, sports teams etc. can take note. They even gave me and other woman a card.
    via @joannachiu
  • 17
    Text - Joanna Chiu @joannachiu 10h t 424 12K Oh, and I also caught his name and the company he works for. I'll be sending a private note to them.
    via @joannachiu
  • 18
    Text - Joanna Chiu t534 11K @joannachiu 9h I'm sure the young woman he targeted will be CEO someday or some other position of influence. She was in the middle of studying when he started harassing her. It's sad these experiences are extremely common. Recommend @JessicaValenti's memoir for insights: amazon.ca/Sex-Object- Mem...
    via @joannachiu
  • 19
    Text - t 725 1.5K Lily Burana @lilyburana 4h Excellent thread about dealing with creepers on public transportation, in this case, flights. Please share.
    via @joannachiu

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