Dear TSA: Please Don’t Feel Me Up – Or Down

Keep me safe and I’m happy. Touch my girlie bits and we might have an issue. Agree with everything you said.

Over the edge, over the edge, over the edge. That is my opinion. Look, I respect that TSA has a job to do. I respect that terrorism is a real threat. BUT, I am horrified by Owen’s story (HANDS ACTUALLY DOWN HIS PANTS? Does this mean if I wear a skirt or dress I should expect to be checked? and the very idea that I might be expected to sit and watch my CHILD be touched in this way? I barely have the words.

I knew you’d say that. Poor man.

Thanks honey. I’m with you!! Hands off the girlie bits.

Shelly – I agree with you – probably very unlikely for a child – think I got it in my head when Owen was talking about not wanting to fly with his daughter until she was old enough to tell him ‘what had happened’… got me a touch flustered. And we are flying with kids right after the New Year. I’m actually flying a few times before that. I’ll confess to being extremely paranoid.

I’m travelling with my two girls, 2 and 5, in a couple weeks, 1 week after they install the scanners at the terminal we will be flying out. I’ll be opting for the scan because I’ve spent too much time trying to teach my girls that no one has the right to touch them in certain ways and don’t want them to see my being touched in ways that would make them uncomfortable. I completely agree with you about wanting to be safe and hating terrorists. But I need to be consistent to protect my daughters from other evils out there.

Hello Bella, let me begin by saying I don’t like my “choucha” messed with… especially by complete strangers. (funny how we all have a secret name for our private parts lol) But, as a world traveler I have to consider this “terrorism”. Yes, I get it and it is a fine line.

Funny thing is we were just having this discussion over dinner last night. My dad all 6’4 of him said “I don’t care what they see and after 500 other people they see in those scanners they won’t care” That makes sense. He’s always the sensible one in the family. Then my mom pipped in. “Gaby is not right, they no need to look at my chouchee, is bullshit” her words not mine, and she calls her a chouchee (don’t ask it’s another post completely) Of course my German wife pipped in and agreed with my mother… A rare thing I might add. She did add some valid point (like many of your readers have) those x-ray machines give you as much radiation as sitting in an airplane. Therefore, people need to get over their fear and allow at the very least the x-ray machines used. But the crux of the conversation was how do you handle this invasive situation? What’s next a cavity search because some idiot in Europe decided to pack a stick of dynamite up his butt? So I can see this discussion won’t go away anytime soon.

We cannot profile, and with that I agree but I always thought if you go through the “scanner” how invasive is that? Of course Mary-Kay said “what if it’s some big super star? Now you can prove she has silicon implants, then someone at TSA is going to get that picture and leak it to the press…” Needless to say by the end of dinner we were no closer to resolving this dilemma.

Personally, I think everyone needs to calm down and not worry about their ” bits, choucha’s, junk in the trunk, etc.” I would rather live another day then worry that someone saw my broken down tired choucha in some scanner.

I fly a lot. And while the scanner is not my favorite (standing there with my hands in the air until they’re good and ready to tell me I can put my jacket back on) I suck it up. People honestly need to just deal with the fact that they can make this easier on themselves by planning ahead. Wear the proper footwear, prep your kids for what to expect, etc. You don’t NEED to wear baggy pants through security, do you? Do a little research, and make it as easy as possible on yourself. I think that most would agree that getting blown up on a plane is worse than a pat down or a scanner. I think people need to suck it up and deal, or else, as Peter Shankman said, take Amtrak!

The few times I have flown this year I haven’t gotten this treatment. So it seems they are getting more aggressive. If they do the full body scan I’d like to get some marker that will show up and write, “Nothing here you perverts” across my body. But that’s just me.

If there were data and research to show that these new scanners — originally to be a *secondary* form of screening and now moved to *primary* — were actually effective, fewer people might be POed.

But TSA has done no cost-benefit analysis, per the GAO.

TSA has completed no privacy assessment, which they are supposed to do under Court directive, because of 4th Amendment implications (illegal search and seizure).

The Whole Body Imaging (WBI) equipment (TSA’s name for this stuff until earlier this year) or Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT, the new name, an Orwellian change) would not have “caught” the Christmas Underwear Bomber, according to an MP in the UK who worked on the tech. We don’t know if it would have, says the GAO. But TSA Chief Pistole says it would and media regurgitate his soundbite with no fact-checking. Bah.

Kathy E. Gill, @kegill
(I’m in the wrong browser – not my primary Twitter account – sorry!)

Hmmmm… I don’t know enough about the xray machines to make a valid point.. but I assume that the TSA people are not going to be walking around in iron smocks – so maybe the radiation isn’t the same??

BUT – I am not going to be subjected to hands down my pants (by TSA people) – I can deal with the pat down… but I also wear clothes that fit…

Well said, Kathy. It seems that there’s lots of flack about this and we might be seeing some changes. I’m all for very strict rules and screenings to protect against terrorism, but it just needs to be well thought out. None of this has seemed even remotely that.

Jen,

I totally agree with everything you say. Quit whining, wear the right clothes, slip into your baggies (if you must) after you get through security, and do what it takes to be smart and safe. I also think the TSA needs some better training and to focus a bit on customer service. But you’re right – being safe isn’t convenient. Not one little bit.

But I have nakey pics of you that I’m sending all over the interwebs. Hahaha. I don’t mind the search so much, but if it becomes invasive, like between my legs, I’m pretty skeeved out about that. And more skeeved out by the thought of kids being targeted and searched. That just seems overboard, Jil.

Erin, for me the biggest thing would involve kids. Can’t imagine what they would think. Hopefully, it won’t be an issue.

Well said, Gabriella. I, too, would rather live another day. And your choucha is not broken down. (around here, we call it a choo-choo )

Training. A novel concept.