The TSA search policy is unwarranted, unjust, and humiliating
By TOM KEANE
“You want to opt out?’’ a guard asked.
“I don’t want to go through that,’’ I said.
From several TSA employees came cries of “Opt out!’’ “Male opt out!’’ I was pulled over to the side and told I would be searched.
The TSA has just recently implemented what it euphemistically calls an “enhanced patdown.’’ The agent firmly ran his hands over my entire body, head to toe, front and back. He rubbed his hands over my buttocks and in between. He put his hands in my pants and ran them all around my waist. From behind, he ran his hands along my legs, all the way up my thigh as high as he could go and onto my genitals.
Then he moved in front of me and then did the same thing again. Remember the question once asked of candidate Bill Clinton: “Boxers or briefs?’’ My TSA examiner knows.
I have never been sexually molested or raped, so I have no idea how my experience compares. But I walked away feeling invaded, sickened, and humiliated. During the long drive after I landed, those three minutes kept obsessively turning over in my mind. Late that night, in a strange hotel room, I suddenly woke with the panicked belief that rough hands were prodding my body. That time, it was only a dream.
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2010/11/19/invasion_of_privacy/
