Women and children first? Experts say that in most crises, it’s more like everyone for themselves

By LAURIE KELLMAN
Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — So much for the women-and-children-first rule of rescues in crisis. The unwritten law of the sea, popularized with the 1912 sinking of the Titanic and its eponymous movie, is getting a grim new airing after Israeli and Hamas prioritized the release of female hostages for prisoners. Evacuation and rescue specialists say the practice is a Hollywood-generated myth and a relic of Victorian-age chivalry. In real-life shipwrecks, earthquakes and other rescues, people in crises tend to do a cost-benefit analysis of helping others and often choose themselves.