The other day I read an op-ed piece by a woman in Alaska absolutely railing against airport security. She described her experience with TSA as being "gate-raped." She said she sobbed as a security woman felt her stomach and under her bra band, calling it sexual assault. She compared the new full-body scanners ("Nudie Scanners," she said) to legalized porn.
The first time I read the article, I was taken aback by the (absurd, I immediately thought) claims she was making. Then I read it a second time and thought some more... I don't want to say that I think this woman is ridiculous, because she also wrote that earlier in her life she was a victim of rape and I believe that is one of the most harrowing, horrible offenses a person can go through. I fully realize I have no clue what damage her rapist did to her psyche. Rape terrifies me. It is probably my biggest fear, and I know so many women who would say the same thing.
Which is why I don't get it. I don’t understand why this woman would undermine her shattering experience by equating it to airport security procedures. Airport security procedures are not rape.
I did some digging because I’ve heard all the rumors about the new full-body scanners, but I didn’t actually know what image the operator sees when you go into one. By “digging,” of course, I mean I googled it. And actually, the images are more graphic than I thought – or at least some of them are. They range from pretty detailed (with nipples, buttcracks and genitals fairly clearly outlined) to very fuzzy/abstract with really no private parts visible. It seemed like generally though, the faces were all fuzzy; I don’t think the scanner really goes over the face. So it’s hard to know what those machines are actually capturing.
The last time I flew, I was told to go through one. I went in, raised my arms, waited a minute and then stepped out when I got a nod from the uniformed woman supervising. I honestly didn’t feel violated in any way. A much bigger deal – and not even really a big deal then – was the time I got stopped because two rings in my purse (they were double-finger rings lying next to each other) apparently looked like brass knuckles when they were scanned.
But okay, I can understand someone not wanting to feel like an unknown person in another part of the airport can see his or her body outlined. That’s fine.
No, what angers me is the extreme vernacular of the extended rape metaphor and the sense of appall/entitlement the author seems to feel. As if the security guards had no right to subject her to... the same security measures that pretty much everyone goes through. Measures that are designed to keep us safe, no less.
I can’t tell if the author exaggerated, either in her own memories or in her writing, the treatment she got. To me, the officers seem like they are just doing their job. They took her to another room out of the main security area when she got hysterical and they told her exactly what they were doing ("I'm going to touch your stomach now") rather than just patting her down, willy-nilly. Yet she uses the word “molested” in reference to what they did. Huh?
When Brian and some friends flew from back to the U.S. from the Middle East after spending five weeks volunteering there one summer, the Israeli airport security didn’t just scan their bags, they opened every single one and looked through the items in it. The patting-down process was much more intense than anything in American airports. It took them two full hours to get through security.
Intense? Sure. But the Israeli national airline has never had a plane hijacked.
I also looked into the author’s other articles on the Anchorage Daily News’ website. I didn't want to stereotype this Alaskan woman, just because another Alaskan woman with a penchant for extreme language has been popping up everywhere for the past three years. But then I found another article written by her that began with the words: "I miss Sarah Palin. Not the post-nomination, self-serving, political opportunist who has become an embarrassment to many Alaskans. Rather, I miss the governor who had 85 percent approval ratings. I miss the 'Wally Hickel' glint in the eye of a governor who stood in the sanctity of 'Owner-State.'”* So okay, she is clearly Republican and, although she at least has the sense to see what Palin has become in the media-soaked last few years, she still expresses an affinity for her ideals.
Bleh.
The most ridiculous part was that the author wrapped her tirade up with, “It's been almost 10 years since 9/11. I was 'gate raped' by my government, and Osama Bin Laden is still at large.”
What?! Bin Laden organized the most successful terrorist attack VIA PLANE in American history. TSA is intense because Bin Laden killed thousands VIA PLANE. As in what you are about to board, that kind of plane. If these scanners – “nudie” or not – keep a terrorist off the next plane I or my loved ones board, then I will gladly be scanned or patted down or have my bag searched for brass knuckles.
* The rest of the article was behind a paywall and I definitely wasn’t about to fork over money to read it, so I don’t know what sentiments were expressed past the opening paragraph.
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