“Cute” Body Scans
Ellen Terrell, a female airline passenger at the Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) airport had THREE body scan photographs taken of her (one more than legally allowed). The agents in the back room said it was too “blurry”, and wanted another pass. One of the female TSA agents directing Ms. Terrell out front even went on to tell her that she has a “cute figure” and was asked if she plays tennis. The TSA Agents in another room viewing the image were men. At this point, Ms. Terrell obviously felt a bit violated (as if having your body exposed to strangers wasn’t violation enough).
For those of you who are unfamiliar with body scans, it takes a nude photo of the person, similar to an xray, but only passing through clothes to expose whatever is underneath. They don’t leave much to the imagination if you get my drift. Almost reminds me of a cheap pair of those “xray specs” that kids used to buy, except that these actually work.
Gender aside, TSA Agents are not who I think of when looking for someone to inspire neither confidence nor tact. As someone who travels somewhat often, I see more than my fair share of attractive young women selected as “random” targets for further inspection. I guess they are seen as more interesting or likely to pose a threat?
Understandably, Ms. Terrell was upset about the scans.
In response to her situation and that of many others, Senator Schumer from New York announced that he will introduce legislation which will require TSA to post passenger advocates at airport security.
So TSA is planning to have one of their own employees (possibly even Mr. Gropey, or Mr. Fondles-A-Lot) set aside to advocate for us when we feel violated? Shouldn’t the government be advocating for passengers instead of requiring more of TSA agents to “help”?
How about teaching TSA Agents not to scope out the prettiest woman – I’m sorry… the “cute” ones – to take multiple digital photos of – for later? The government and TSA are trying to fix bureaucratic rubbish with more of the same…and expect it to work?
Last I heard, unwanted fondling, touching, groping of genitalia (a.k.a SEXUAL ASSAULT) is illegal.
Is anyone else pissed off that women (and men) are being taken advantage of?
Read more about Ellen Terrell here.
Yes, I knew as soon as these scanners were first proposed, that it was highly likely that this type of abuse would happen. No crystal ball needed, particularly when you can guess that most of the ones viewing the screens will be male. Free airport porn basically.
There is no way I would submit to one of these, I would demand a female officer strip search me instead of making free porn for the dudes in the back room.
In the UK they are supposed to delete the images after a short time. Yeah, sure, right.
Airport security has the potential to be a useful tool to increase safety, but I see it more as a way to manipulate people. I’m opting for a pat-down too. I’m not in the traveling porn industry either!
Those scanners also produce a lot of radiation. Studies have shown that some people will get skin cancer from the amount of radiation absorbed during these scans. Wear sunblock all the time but get skin cancer from a machine? I think not.
Thank you very much for your comment, DavinaSquirrel!
Mind,For many, the issue regarding the ctcksbataer x-ray / millimeter-wave scan is that there is not enough known to assure that there are no health risks involved. Just because the TSA says it’s safe, doesn’t mean that everyone believes or trusts that statement blindly. In addition, I believe that most people don’t like the idea of nude pictures of themselves.The company who has the contract to sell these scanners to the government spent $5 million on lobbying key gov’t. personnel in order to win the deal. In fact, the president of that company just went along with Obama on his recent trip to Asia. When there is a lot of money involved, people will say just about anything, including that the machines are safe. Therefore, a bit of skepticism is a good thing.In fact, the pilots union have opted out of ctcksbataer scans for the very reason of health concerns. Until more scientific information is produced as proof, I agree with them..You bring up a good point regarding TSA employees and the likelihood that they do not like having to perform the new pat-down procedures. Who would They are doing what they are told.I believe that the Opt-Out protest (if it materializes) will be a way of pushing back against the US government policy makers (not the TSA employees I do feel that you are right that they are getting a bad end of the deal too, and surely most of them do not enjoy the grief that they must be getting). No quarrel here you just happen to be the type of person who is willing to give up more of your rights to make you feel safer. I know many people and have friends that believe similarly. I can still be friends with them, but I just don’t agree I just happen to be the type of person who believes that this is going too far against American freedoms. I believe it is a dangerous road, and where would it stop? Scanners and strip searches at bus and train stations too? etc OK, this is coincidental after having just posted this comment, a story pops out there saying that the . We are living in a police state now. I personally believe that there should be Profiling when trying to discover the terrorist . No one seems to want to say that, but I believe it is the only effective way. We should not be subjecting our kids, grandparents, (and ourselves) to such over-the-top scrutiny. In my opinion of course.As far as I know, all of the past attempts to blow up airplanes has come from someone from another part of the world. I think we have a fairly good idea who the people are who want to do us harm, and it’s not us.So in conclusion, I do believe this has everything to do with modern survival, especially the survival of our way of life without excessive government intrusion.
There are numerous health risks involved. Read up on this, you’ll be glad you did!
Thanks for writing!
What does this have to do with modern sriauvvl. If you have nothing to hide then what’s the problem with the backscatter scanner, do you want to be SAFE or not? Are you saying we should just take everyone’s word that they are law abiding? Wake up to yourself!How about feeling a little sorry for those TSA employees who have to look at near naked overweight average Americans.
The backscatter has caused skin cancer. I am anti-skin cancer.
The X-ray is just as effective without the damaging radiation.
Some people like looking at overweight people, and no one was forced to become a TSA employee. They didn’t have to choose this line of work.
Shannon, I can’t agree more. I had the misfortune of xcperieneing these machines at RDU and was completely humiliated by the whole incident. I happened to be wearing a skirt when I was flying out and you have to spread your legs to a specific distance before the machine will run. Well, the design of the skirt would only allow for me to place my feet so far apart. After being told to spread feet wider 3 times, I decided I would never go through this again. Days later, on my way home, I was faced with the same situation as I was flying out of Cincinnati. I VERY politely asked if I could have a pat down instead of the machine. I can’t tell you how big of mess this caused. The TSA personnel scrambled to find somebody who could pat every inch of me down and then acted as if I had put them out as if I had made their day harder. It is really frustrating
I am sorry to hear that this happened to you, Andrea. This keeps happening more and more often, and that really is not okay.
It is a frustrating situation. Thank you for sharing it with us. Has anyone else had this happen to them?
“Cops enforce the law, do not break them”LOL, of cuosre they break the law, and the whole desire to make people think they do not has caused the biggest of black eyes to the police, the blue line, where cops protect each other.Hard to defend idiots who get their crimes committed on video though.
People of all backgrounds and socio-economic status break the law every day.
Thanks for your comment.