Melanie Schofield, 19, bumped to first-class after co-passenger started watching porn
A popular TikTok has sparked talks about inappropriate exposure to sexually explicit content after a user described how a fellow traveler on an airplane started watching porn next to her. Melanie Schofield, the user who created the video, tells how she was transferred to first class after notifying flight attendants that the "old man" next to her was watching porn. The video has nearly 400,000 views.
The accompanying video purports to show the 19-year-old, sitting in first class on a plane while the popular 'Material Girl' music plays in the background. "Only cried for like 10 minutes so we’re gucci," she said in the video description.
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Schofield told the Daily Dot that the man's alarming conduct began the moment she sat down next to him. "He immediately he took up as much space as possible, it seemed like he was trying to touch me and make me uncomfortable," she claimed, "He used both armrests so that I didn’t have one and forced me to be squished against the side of the plane," she added.
According to Schofield, this behavior made her feel "unsafe", so she began "analyzing him". "Within five seconds of looking at him, I notice he is typing on his phone, ‘sex on a plane’ and he begins watching pornography of people having sex on a plane," she explained, adding, "I immediately panicked but I held it together."
Schofield told the Daily Dot that the flight attendants didn't know what to do at first, but that when she requested to be relocated away from the man, they took her to first class.
"For the entire flight, I was upset and scared. But I’m grateful the flight attendants helped me and that I was able to get out of an unsafe situation," she stated. "I don’t think the creep was removed from the flight. I’m not sure he got any punishment whatsoever," she further informed.
@a1iengir1 only cried for like ten minutes so we’re gucci
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Schofield also revealed in the comments of her TikTok that the man was watching "plane porn", which fans felt made the situation sound even more "scary".
The vast majority of comments on the TikTok backed Schofield. "I'm so sorry," one responded. "That sounds so traumatic."
"This world... unbelievable," said another. Several other users shared similar experiences that they or other female family members had on planes and at other public places.
However, not all of the comments were positive. "A lot of men were victim-blaming me and telling me I was overly sensitive and should not have been scared," Schofield said. "And some men said I should not have looked at his phone, basically blaming me for the sexual assault I experienced."