Jul 23


Security

by Terry 23 July 2009


I frequently have trouble with the TSA while flying, so coming back from Asheville, NC I opted to pack my knee brace rather than deal with the hassle of wearing it through security. But apparently that wasn’t good enough: I set off the metal detector anyway.

I took off my watch and my rings. The only thing I kept was my glasses and my piercings. I still beeped.

So I got pulled aside for extra screening. I put my feet in the proper places indicated on the floor, wide apart, and stood with my arms straight out at my sides.  When the agent ran the hand held wand around my body,  I got patted down when it beeped on my underwire bra. I had to hold my bra out while she felt the under sides of my breasts to prove I didn’t have a weapon stashed there. When it beeped on my waist, I had to pull my skirt and blouse away from my body so she could feel that I was indeed wearing a bellybutton ring. Then she patted up each leg to my crotch, and explored that, too, even though I didn’t beep in that area.

At each step of the process the TSA agent (a woman) asked if I’d rather be searched in private. I declined, thinking that if they were willing to grope me in public, what more would they want to do in private?

Meanwhile, my carry-on and purse were being searched. The most exciting thing they found there was a bottle of tranquilizers with my name on them and a bag of various psych meds that would string them out for a week if they confiscated them to try.  Still, they pulled everything out, then had to work to stuff it all back in.

Finally, with nary an apology, they told me I could go.  I retrieved my bags and my shoes and got to the gate just in time to board the plane, shaken by the experience.

When we’re not traveling it’s easy to forget just how many rights we’ve given away to minimum wage workers in paramilitary uniforms.  Had they decided to detain me further, I could still be sitting in Asheville, or in jail.

All because my underwire bra beeped.

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7 Comments

7 Responses to “Security”

  1. Sherry Chandler on July 23rd, 2009 9:41 am

    What a horror story. Makes me cringe just to think about it. It’s why I don’t even consider flying anywhere anymore.  (Quote)

  2. Helen Losse on July 23rd, 2009 6:53 pm

    I haven’t flown for many years and don’t care if I never do again. This is ridiculous.  (Quote)

  3. Ahistoricality on July 23rd, 2009 8:29 pm

    I don’t know what it is about petty authority that makes so many forget the basic dignity and humanity of the people they deal with.

    And any dealings with official bureaucracies make me nervous — armed ones just terrify me.  (Quote)

  4. Sherry Chandler on July 24th, 2009 10:05 am

    So, Ahistoricality, is this another form of terrorism? A terrorism of our own government against its people?  (Quote)

  5. Ahistoricality on July 24th, 2009 1:17 pm

    Michel Foucault argued (in French, at great length) that the dominant feature of modernity (at least the modern state, but I think it goes beyond that) was control, and the development of systems of law, social measurement, data collection, social control, policing and prisons which are the hallmarks of a modern state are all, fundamentally, directed at defining and enforcing norms of behavior. Violence (including imprisonment) is one of the tools of the state (actually, it’s used by communities and individuals, too, but less officially), as is fear of shame, property and status loss, and all the other consequences of crossing the power of the state. Small doses of these serve to remind the subject populations of their proper place…..

    In short, Sherry, yes.  (Quote)

  6. Terry on July 25th, 2009 12:15 pm

    Terrorism is a good word for it. They try to make us so afraid of foreigners (and the TSA) that we’ll shut up and do what we’re told, which I did. I was angry at my powerlessness and vulnerability, then weepy afterward because I had no outlet for that anger. I had to swallow it if I wanted to get home.

    This isn’t right.  (Quote)

  7. dustbury.com » No thanks, I’ll drive on July 26th, 2009 1:32 pm

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