I&rsquom not hugely proud of this, but while I am theoretically inclined to take the side of The Subjugated Pakistani Woman, I&rsquove come to learn that this is a different thing from actually having one at my side. What I specifically object to is the now customary routine of being requested shortly after boarding to swap places because of them. It is the reasoning that kills me I am to trade seats with a male passenger so that a woman can sit, as is appropriate, next to another woman. A decade ago this happened from time to time, and the stewardess would apologetically inform me that a particular woman wasn&rsquot comfortable sitting next to a man. In the past few years, it&rsquos become more of a given, &ldquoShe wants to move because she&rsquos, you know, a lady.&rdquo Suggesting that a woman sit next to an unfamiliar man for an hour and a half on an airplane is a vulgar Western imposition upon our sacred traditions, but apparently air travel itself is not, which is why none of the women to whom I&rsquove suggested travel by camel as an appropriate alternative have been amused.
