It seems that TSA now stands for Total Sexual Aggravation after the TSA put new security regulations in place.  You now have two main options, enter a x-ray scanning machine (also known as a radiation box) in which a TSA agent will look through your clothing, see your private parts, and maybe keep the photos, or you can be touched, groped, and violated by a TSA agent with rubber gloves.  Yes, this sounds overly dramatic, but realistically, these assessments are fairly accurate.

Get In The Radiation Box

Your first option, a revealing full body scanner.  There are two types of scanners, one that uses radio-wave technology to produce a 3D image monitored by a screener in another room.  The other type of scanner is called a “backscatter” and is able to see through clothes, detect suspicious objects and provide radiation.  There are a few problems with this new type of scanner. 

 First, the body scanners peer through clothing and provide a basically nude image to a TSA agent in another room.  For some, the idea that someone other than their God or their significant other could see them naked is almost blasphemous, let alone humiliating. 

 Second, the TSA has announced that the images aren’t kept anywhere and they are instantly deleted, however, there was recently a leak of 30,000 images from a Florida airport.  Additionally, it seems to be incredibly hard to prove that the TSA pulled someone aside because they were seen carrying a suspicious object without having the actual proof to prove their suspicion (aka the photo).  

 Finally, there is the fear of radiation.  For most travelers, the amount of radiation is rather negligible, however, for pilots the additional radiation that they may suffer is serious.  Every time someone gets on an airplane, they are subject to some form of radiation while flying (this is generally unavoidable because of radiation in our atmosphere).  For the majority of people, this isn’t a problem; however, for frequent flyers, pilots, and flight attendants, this could become a problem.  Adding more radiation to those people’s daily life is not a good idea because of the health risks associated with increased radiation exposure. 

Won’t You Buy Me Dinner Before Feeling Me Up?

The other option is to be hand-checked by a TSA agent.  The new rules require TSA agents to slide the front of their hands over a passenger’s body, including breast and groin areas.  This can be done in private if requested.  This has lead to several incredibly bad results.  This includes a 61-year-old man that, after warning TSA agents about his aurostomy bag (used to collect urine), was patted down resulting in the bag being dislodged and the man suffering intense traumitazation after the aurostomy bag dislodged.  A flight attendant was forced to remove her breast implant because of issues with the TSA (she was a breast cancer survivor).  She reported that she was forced to both show her breasts and remove them.  This doesn’t even take into account the patdown of children (those under 12 have a modified pat down procedure).  

This has lead to some calling the practice “Gate Rape,” the final humiliation, and threats of arresting TSA agents for touching private parts.  What do you think?  Is enough enough?