This is a delicate question, but I'm curious what others think. Recently on a long distance flight, the older gentleman sitting next to me whipped out a Penthouse magazine, laid it flat open in his tray-table, and started leafing through it. You know how tight airlplane seating is, so these pornographic photos were in plain view. I thought about asking him to put it away, but I figured I'd simply close my eyes. Should I have piped up or alerted the flight attendant? Am I a prude?

Boy, what a creep. I'm sure he was getting added value out of having an audience! I could think of some effective counteraction on a bus or subway, but admit I would be stumped about what to do on an airline! I hope it wasn't a very long flight. Maybe you could have accidentally spilled a drink on it...It's just hard to get away from the fact of continuing to have to sit in close quarters with the dirty old creep for the duration of the flight.

A "gentleman" would never be caught looking at such magazines in public, but it's nice of you to give him the benefit of the doubt. You sound like a caring, sensitive person, but those magazines are not allowed in plain view in convenience stores and must be covered in wrappers to go through the US mail, so you have civilized society on your side in asking him to put it out of your field of view in a public space.

Oh, burrother, this is probably a no-win situation, but the Experts would tell you that reacting in any way is what he wants you to do, so ignoring him is supposedly the best thing. <BR> <BR>But how annoying to have to figure out ways to avert your own attention -- read something yourself (a WIDE newspaper, or..), turn away to doze, etc. Perhaps one could have a word with the flight attendant and have her/him offer the man another magazine? Some people would probably be cool enough to say something like "if you don't put that away 'til I'm off the plane, I'm going to sing the theme song for Sanford and Son for the duration of the flight."

A friend of mine told me a technique for such situations in which you need to shame someone from highly inappropriate behavior. Three simple words: "OH MY GOD!" said in as loud a voice as you can muster. Everyone will look at the offender, and only the truly exceptional person could avoid putting the offending thing away. Works for all kind of offending things. <BR> <BR>On a related topic, I found a great way to get two people from making out in public. This happened in an airport terminal, and my 2-year old son was with me. He saw the tongue wrestling and just stood there 5 feet away watching all the slurping, until the happy couple noticed and immediately knocked it off. <BR> <BR>Happy travels!

I think if you left your seat to go to the lavatory and informed the flight attendants of the situation and let them deal with it, you wouldn't have to confront the guy at all. That way he would not get the satisfaction out of your response of any kind, which is what he wanted in the first place. <BR>

What if the person sitting next to you is a celebrity? a big one, as happened to me. This guy (who shall remain nameless but is wellknown to everyone in USA, and probably the world) was in the seat next to me, first class from the east coast. He had a girlie mag propped inside a stock journal? Well, just goes to show, you don't have to be a low brow to behave like that.

seems to me, you should react the same to a celebrity as anyone else, and if his behavior is inappropriate, you should stand up for yourself or get a flight attendant to do it for you. since he was hiding his magazine inside something else, however, im not sure he ws doing anything wrong. perhaps you only noticed what he had, because he was a celebrity, and you were being a little curious?

I agree with everyone that reading a Penthouse magazine in an aeroplane is not very tasteful. Nevertheless, I find all the fuzz about the topic pretty amusing. For me, coming from Europe, all this problem-solving and "what-would-you-have-done" analyzing over a such a small incident seems culturally very American (in a cute sort of way). It's very hard to imagine this discussion taking place on a travel site in Scandinavia where I live. These pages are a great journey to the minds of Americans!

Mind of Americans? Please! I think it has to do with class, not nationality. It has to do with respect for others, and even here in France a "gentleman" would not view such material in front of an unknown lady. Incidentally, you don't understand the WORLD Wide Web if you talk about a travel site "here in Scandinavia."

Travor: You are right. Reading a dirty magazine in a public place really is a question of class, not nationality. I don't know from which Scandinavian country Dona comes from, but in my country, Finland, a "gentleman" would definitely not read a dirty magazine in a public place either. In fact, it's hard to figure anyone in any country to be that rude to do so sitting next to an unknown lady. Nevertheless, there was some truth in Dona's view, even if she was rather clumsy expressing her views. There are, in fact, major differences to be seen between travel forums frequenced mainly by Americans and the ones with a more international audience. In the 'American' websites the atmosphere is generally much more relaxed and civilized. What I respect about Americans is their (what it seems to me) qenuine willingness to spend their busy time giving in-depth information and help to unknown people on websites. In more 'European' travelsites, such as Lonely Planet, you often meet the rude 'Don't come here asking those stupid questions' attitude. Every now and then you do see some over-analysing in 'American' websites, but I don't think it was the case here.

Nancy, <BR> <BR>You are defitely not a prude! That man was either 'brain-dead' or like others have stated he was looking for attention or a reaction from you or others around him. <BR> <BR>I love Cindy's suggestion! A variation on that would be: "so, you're into porn, huh?" This suggestion is only for people who don't get embarrassed easily by attention from fellow travelers &lt;g&gt;. <BR> <BR>My appreciation, admiration, and respect to all the men who replied and considered this tasteless.They have proven that there is something in the world called 'respect for your fellow man (and woman)'. <BR> <BR>Kittie <BR> <BR>

To Dona: <BR> <BR>Although I can appreciate your view that this is a 'small incident', I think that Nancy's question and the following replies are very valid and informative. This info can help other travelers who experience the same situation. That is one reason why we log onto this web page. <BR>Kittie

There are worse things than sitting next to a man reading Penthouse, like another woman reading Cosmo. More annoying are the people who let their kids run up and down the aisle, or when someone sitting next to you drags out pictures of their children --or starts preaching to you about whatever religious tribe they subscribe to. Let the man read his magazine. There are worse offenders in the sky with you. You don't need to eavesdrop. You would not read what's on peoples computer screens or their work papers..or maybe you would. Leave the man alone and MYOB.

What a sour answer! On the one hand Mary advocates MYOB when the person sitting immediately next to you (and on planes that means REALLY immediately) has purposely offensive material in plain view, but when it comes to behavior several seats away from her or in the aisle, she's suddenly offended. Wonder if Mary's really a she -- more offended by kids than by pornography. What would you do, Mary, if your seatmate's fly was unzipped -- as happened to me? It really isn't too far a jump from Penthouse to that, but it's a far cry from doting grandmas. <BR> <BR>Airplane travel means traveling in much closer proximity than one would put up with anywhere else other than maybe a crowded elevator (where you rarely have to cope with it for more than a minute or two). Unacceptable behavior is unacceptable behavior.

A person who does this is an exhibitionist, showing something sexual to others to cause a reaction. He can't expose himself, so he shows legal sexual pictures. As long as he keeps it in his seat he has a right to do it, and I think the best thing to do is to try to ignore it. He gets his jollies when you react to it.

"A right to do it"????? You aren't serious!

Of course a person has a right to conduct such activities in public. This whole modesty thing just makes me so darn mad! Next thing you know, they'll be arresting people in porn theatres for simply doing what people do in porn theatres. What is the world coming to, anyway?

PeeWee/David, et al -- (and no points for unsubtle, sophomoric pun) -- <BR> <BR>It isn't acceptable to have males walking in public exposing and "gratifying" themselves, and it is, in fact, against the law. It ain't a matter of modesty, it's a matter of offense to the general public. <BR> <BR>You may not be personally offended, and you are entitled by law to watch whatever you want at home on cable or read whatever you want at home in some magazine. But if you are sitting next to someone in a movie, on a bus, or plane, you are in public. <BR> <BR>Consider this: what would you think if someone sitting next to your 10-year-old daughter were reading Penthouse in her unavoidable view? I can't imagine it wouldn't make you nervous, at the very least.

Does a person have the legal right to read Penthouse in public? Is there a lawyer in the house? (I have never done anything like it or would do it.) <BR> <BR>Keating - He was not sitting next to a 10 year old girl. And he was not doing anything lewd. That's not the situation. <BR> <BR>Why all the anonymous posts?