As someone who spent a good amount of time flying, I am horrified, disgusted, and incredibly pissed off by the new TSA guidelines. Basically, if you want to fly in the US of A, land of the free, you get to choose between having strangers see your naked body thanks to a full body scanner (and those images will be stored!) OR you can have the invasive groping of your breasts and groin. And if you refuse, you better be ready to leave the airport like the criminal you are. Hey, this is for your safety, folks.
These scanners are in effect at Heathrow Terminal 4 and Manchester, but I haven't encountered them there. That said, I know how scary and dehumanizing it is every time I fly to London to have the border control agents check my papers. I can't imagine having that experience be the norm no matter where I fly. And I'm really, really not ok with how this removes my agency as a woman... or how problematic this process has already been.
I mean, look. A three year old girl is forced to go through this enhanced patdown- a patdown that in any other context would have people up in arms as inappropriate sexual touch of a minor, but if it's the TSA it's cool? WTF. But what really got to me was how these guidelines served as a trigger for a rape survivor:
“This was a nightmare come to life,” Celeste says, “I said I didn’t want them to see me naked and the agent started yelling Opt out- we have an opt here. Another agent took me aside and said they would have to pat me down. He told me he was going to touch my genitals and asked if I wouldn’t rather just go through the scanner, that it would be less humiliating for me. I was in shock. I couldn’t believe this was happening. I kept saying I don’t want any of this to happen. I was whispering please don’t do this, please, please.”
Since Celeste didn’t agree to go through the scanner, the enhanced pat down began. “He started at one leg and then ran his hand up to my crotch. He cupped and patted my crotch with his palm. Other flyers were watching this happen to me. At that point I closed my eyes and started praying to the Goddess for strength. He also cupped and then squeezed my breasts. That wasn’t the worst part. He touched my face, he touched my hair, stroking me. That’s when I started crying. It was so intimate, so horrible. I feel like I was being raped. There’s no way I can fly again. I can’t do it.”- from PNC-Minnasota Bureau
The TSA claims these molestations will only happen with
same-sex agents- which isn't that much better, frankly. But even so, in practice that's not what's been happening.
Outrage over this has encouraged a National Opt Out day, the day before Thanksgiving, as a way to fight back against these regulations.This opting out means that everyone will receive the enhanced patdown, and the site encourages you to make sure it's done in full view of other passengers. From the videos I've seen, it's pretty horrifying. I have never been somewhere where people have been treated so invasively in an airport. There's a few videos on youtube showing women and children having to go through this grope-down but the father doesn't... again, not really suggesting a very safe or sane situation.
I wouldn't be flying anyway, but I'm definitely not interested in flying after all this. Only flight I'm getting on is one out of the US. Fuck "freedom", I'll take Big Brother any day.
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