February 16, 2024
History professor contributes to PBS documentary airing Feb. 20
![PBS's "Fly with Me" promo image showing animated flight attendants holding picket signs PBS's "Fly with Me" promo image showing animated flight attendants holding picket signs](http://www.k-state.edu/k-publisher/custom-images/2024/Feb/2024-Feb-12_2053_00-fly-wit.jpg)
Phil Tiemeyer, associate professor of history, was interviewed and served as historical advisor for the PBS American Experience documentary "Fly with Me," scheduled to air at 8 p.m. CST on Feb. 20.
"Fly with me" tells the story of the pioneering women who became flight attendants at a time when single women were unable to order a drink, eat alone in a restaurant, own a credit card or get a prescription for birth control. The job offered unheard-of opportunities for travel and independence. These women were on the frontlines of the battle for gender equality in the workplace.
"[Flight attendants were] being marketed, basically, as a Barbie doll, and yet doing more and more complex work," said Tiemeyer. "There's a fundamental incompatibility between these two things."
Tiemeyer, an expert on flight attendant history and civil rights, wrote the award-winning book "Plane Queer: Labor, Sexuality, and AIDS in the History of Male Flight Attendants."
A "Fly with Me" trailer is available on PBS's website as is a detailed press release.