[Prudence]

Re: airplane seats

In theory, I don't have a problem with objective requirements that people be required to pay for the space they occupy.

However, my experience is that these policies are applied subjectively and frequently illustrate the biases that are the subject of this discussion.

For example: I'm short. Weight on me looks different than it does on someone taller whose butt might be just as wide as mine. But their butt "appears" smaller.

Second: My butt does fit in an airplane seat. It takes up the whole seat, I'll grant you, but it fits. (I still have a lot of muscle in my tush, so when I sit I go more "up" than "out," if that makes sense.) Meanwhile, my more normal-sized husband has room to spare in the butt, but does the guy sprawl where he is incapable of confining his legs to the the floor space aligned with his seat. It annoys me to no end and I'm married to him! I would be really ticked if he was a stranger occupying my floor space, where I was planning on putting my own feet. (But since he's my husband I just kick him!)

Third: parents aren't obligated to buy seats for kids under 2. But if that's the case, they should keep the kid in "their" space, not stick their feet in my lap because sonny boy wants to take a nap and they weren't required to buy him a seat so it's okay. Um, not with me?

If they had some kind of "butt" measure like they use for carry-ons, and if the standard was clear, I would be hard pressed to object, even if it meant I had to buy two seats. But when the standard is Joe "looks" fat and Bob, who's taller but with equal rear real estate doesn't -- and when other people are allowed to occupy more than their space for their non-obesity-related comfort -- then I object.