Monday, August 10, 2009

A History of Stewardesses

I remember that flying was a special treat back in the 1960’s. Airline tickets were expensive, and people dressed-up in their Sunday best when flying.

Flying commercial was a swanky affair, something reserved for successful, important men.

In the golden age of air travel, stewardesses were hot models, all thin and voluptuous, and the pilots were all macho ex-military fighter jocks:


Coffee, tea, or me?

Even the movies of the 1960's glamorized sexy stewardesses:

Stewardesses in film

Back then, predictions of the future of aviation foresaw no changes, and all stewardesses were super-model quality:


A 1970's prediction of the 21st Century stewardess

How wrong they were!

As I recall, all of this changed with Women’s lib, and in the mid 80’s it became popular for effeminate men to become stewardesses.

They even got the official name changed from stewardess to the gender neutral “flight attendant”.


The real 21st century flight attendants

In an ironic twist, it’s alleged that a flight attendant started the worldwide spread of AIDS when he refused to leave his friends behind:

“As a flight attendant Dugas was able to travel the globe, at little cost, to such early HIV epicenters as Los Angeles, New York, Paris, London, and San Francisco.

He claimed to have had over 2,500 sexual partners across North America since becoming sexually active in 1972.”



Personally, I have no problem with homo flight attendants, but I must believe that many business travelers might appreciate a return of the glorious past.

For a fresh idea in air travel, let’s bring back the sexy stewardesses, something like Hooters in the sky!



Ah, it could herald the 2nd golden age of air travel . . .