On Metro - do you offer your seat to pregnant women?

[Anonymous]

Yes, I offer my seat to pregnant women, caregivers w/small children, seniors, etc. I do know a few friends who never offered their seats (or helped carry a stroller up/down steps) until they had kids. Concur that AA men - regardless of age - seemed more incline to offer a seat or assist me when I was either waddling or navigating a stroller. And I agree that this consciousness starts at home: so if you are a white mom on here with a son, get busy!

[Anonymous]

I'm 4 months pregnant, and just started riding the metro again after a 3 year hiatus. And I'm always on the lookout for other more pregnant people to offer up my seat for!

That said, it would be helpful if Metro, or at least the Metro drivers, could clarify that the handicapped seats are for the handicapped, elderly, and those who are pregnant.

[Anonymous]

If the person for whom you give your seat up turns out to be overweight and not pregnant, you can prevent your embarrassment by saying "I'm getting off at the next stop anyway". Then hop off and get back in another car. Yup, I've done it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Only if she is undeniably pregnant. There are plenty of women who look it, but just need to go on a diet, and I don't want to embarrass us both.

LOL!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

same here, and also men from foreign countries or obvious tourists. Also I always got offered a seat whenever I rode the bus. Metro was another story

I think tourists are the WORST. I have NEVER seen a tourist offer a seat to anyone - not to me (hugely pregnant), an elderly person, etc. And I ride the Orange Line at rush hour and have seen, plenty of times, tourists who allow their middle school / teenage children to occupy the handicapped seats while seniors & pregnant women stand there. Maybe they're not familiar with our Metro system and its rules, but manners are manners.

I think tourists and businessmen are the two worst culprits.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I have offered my seal to pregnant women, elderly on many occasions. However, when I was hobbling on crutches no one ever offered me a seat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, I have offered my seal to pregnant women, elderly on many occasions. However, when I was hobbling on crutches no one ever offered me a seat.

Seat,, pet seal is mine.

[Anonymous]

If you're unsure whether or not a woman is pregnant, you could just get up and move away from the seat and say nonchalantly, "the seat is free if you want it." So its less obviously related to pregnancy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Saw a heavily pregnant woman (probably full-term) standing on a crowded train this morning right next to all of the seats that are supposed to be available for people with disabilities. It was several stops before anyone bothered to offer her a seat. Does this strike anyone else as really bad form?

I don't think being pregnant is a disability but I always give my seat up for those who are pregnant, carrying an infant, elderly, or just looks like they could take a load off. It’s just common courtesy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you're unsure whether or not a woman is pregnant, you could just get up and move away from the seat and say nonchalantly, "the seat is free if you want it." So its less obviously related to pregnancy.

If anyone , male or female, looks as though they are not feeling well--flu, whatever, be nice and offer them your seat. You don't offer a pregnant woman your seat by saying, "Here, take my seat, dear pregnant person," do you? It doesn't make a bit of difference whether someone is overweight, pregnant, or male.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I offer seats to anyone who looks like he/she needs it.

I hate that so few people offer little kids seats on trains and buses in the District. Especially on buses, where I think it's just not safe for little people (say, 6 and under) to stand.

Chivalry is so dead I won't bother beating it with a stick. Some may say good riddance, but I think we've simply lifted the burden of any sort of helpful behavior off men. They're now free to be as churlish as they wanna be toward women in public places with whom they don't wish to sleep.

A lot of young women are anti-"breeder" these days, too-- so they're not going to help pregnant women or small children, either.

[Anonymous]

When I was 8 months pregnant I was on the yellow line an older woman stood up to give me her seat, and then she hit (with a magazine) a 30-something man in uniform and said "your mother would be ashamed of you"

He got up immediately to give her his seat, but she wouldn't take it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When I was 8 months pregnant I was on the yellow line an older woman stood up to give me her seat, and then she hit (with a magazine) a 30-something man in uniform and said "your mother would be ashamed of you"

He got up immediately to give her his seat, but she wouldn't take it.

This is brilliant!

It also says a lot about an "older" woman's ability to do whatever she thinks is right after a certain point in her life without caring what other people think. Posters on jezebel would say something about the social freedom you can find once you're really out of the "sexual economy" after menopause.

[Anonymous]

When 8-9 months pregnant, I had a group of tourists sit and gawk at my belly and comment about how people in DC are so rude because no one on the train offered me a seat. The kicker was, none of the tourists did either. I also happened on an extremely crowded train once. I'm short and nicely asked the person next to me if we could swap places because I couldn't reach the overhead bar and thus had nothing at all to hold on to. He responded with "I didn't get you pregnant, I don't have to move for you."

I would say I was offered a seat 50-75% of the time.

Now, when I commute daily with a young toddler in a stroller, I am amazed at how often people offer me their seats. It is definitely more prevalent than when I was pregnant. I appreciate it a lot, but arguably needed it more when hugely pregnant.

I always offer my seat if someone looks like they need it more. If I screw up and offer the seat to someone I thought was pregnant but they weren't, so be it. It's not like I'm telling them the reason I'm giving them my seat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, I have offered my seal to pregnant women, elderly on many occasions. However, when I was hobbling on crutches no one ever offered me a seat.

Same here. In fact once when I was very obviously wearing a boot (boot with shorts and a sandal), I got up to give an elderly man my seat because no one else was moving. Then I went to stand by the handicapped seats to give them the evil eye. No one moved or offered to move, and I didn't ask since I didn't really need the seat anyway, but I enjoyed feeling self-righteous.