TSA Groin Searches Menstruating Woman
Yesterday we received a letter from a customer who wore her GladRags Pantyliner through a security scanner and was so traumatized by her resulting TSA genital search that she wanted to warn other women. (Read her letter below). Her past history of sexual assault made this experience a nightmare for her. At first we thought yes, we will warn people not to put themselves through this risk.
But on second thought, we want to ask every willing woman, menstruating or not, to put a GladRags in her pants and go through the scanner. Let the TSA learn to recognize that a menstruating woman is probably not a terrorist! (And, yes, we know myriad jokes can be made be about that statement).
The fact of the matter is, everyone is subject to an invasive search. For some women and men it causes great stress and perceived violation. If you can handle the experience fairly stress free, help clear the way for our menstruating sisters for whom a genital search by a group of strangers is a truly traumatizing experience.
So get your GladRags on and get to grandma's house! Over the river and thru the scannners!
"This email isn't going to be as polished as I would normally send, but I'm upset and I don't want what happened to me to happen to anyone else (if I can stop it). I recently traveled via air, and was subjected to that new scanning device. "No problem," I thought. I was wearing jeans and a linen tanktop, bra, panties, and one camoflauge pantyliner. I'm a rule follower, so I never have any problems at the airport. Not this time. I was stopped, and then held for 15 mintues while they tried to find a female supervisor. I couldn't get to my bag, my shawl or my shoes; just standing there while the TSA agents kept me in one place. Now, I don't want this to be about bad TSA agents; they were doing their job, they were as delicate as they could be, etc., etc. But what ultimately happened is that I was subjected to search so invasive that I was left crying and dealing with memories that I thought had been dealt with years ago of prior sexual assualts. Why? Because of my flannel panty-liner. These new scans are so horrible that if you are wearing something unusual (like a piece of cloth on your panties) then you will be subjected to a search where a woman repeatedly has to check your "groin" while another woman watches on (two in my case – they were training in a new girl – awesome). So please, please, tell the ladies not to wear their liners at the airport (I didn't even have an insert in). I'm a strong, confident woman; I'm an Army vet (which is why those camo liners crack me up), I work full-time and go to graduate school full-time, I have a wonderful husband, and I don't take any nonsense from anyone. I don't dramatize, and I don't exaggerate. I'm trying to give you a sense of who I am so you won't think that this is a plea for attention, or a jumping on the bandwagon about the recent TSA proposed boycott. I just don't want another woman to have to go through the "patting down" because she didn't know that her glad-rag would be a matter of national security."
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November 24th, 2010 at 12:30 pm
I think this is terrible! I now realize that TSA is going way too far with these searches and checks if they have to do a “genital check” on every woman who is on their period. I feel for that lady who had to go through that, because I have been raped and it must have been hard to vision that all over again, just because TSA thinks a cloth pad is a national risk. I use cloth pads all the time and wonder what they’d do to me if I wore on on a plane trip.
I had a friend who has an ostomy appliance have trouble with the TSA searches, because they thought his ostomy appliance could contain a weapon. They ordered him to remove it. Of course, he didn’t because he has an ileostomy and they empty continuously, but he told our ostomy group that it took forever for him to convince the searchers that he had the appliance on for a medical reason.
As you can tell, TSA is taking all of this stuff way too seriously! Big time!
November 25th, 2010 at 4:32 am
[...] TSA gropes: Menstruating women whose panty liners block* the porno-scanners. (*Yes, one can’t understand just how crappy these beneficiaries of political bribes and [...]
November 25th, 2010 at 7:22 am
this is the worst abuse I’ve read so far, this is beyond stupid. How any self respecting TSA agent could go through with this is beyond me completely, this saddens me to no end
November 25th, 2010 at 7:28 am
Jessie said “As you can tell, TSA is taking all of this stuff way too seriously! Big time!”
I don’t know that that’s the problem. Security is important – but they’re going about it the wrong way. The US has a huge problem with security theater as opposed to methods proven to actually work long-term. The TSA was not set up to do this well. I don’t think, as an agency, they’re incapable of doing this well, but it would involve a fundamental shift in how they operate.
However, to the issue at hand, I’d wondered since this change to enhanced pat-downs what would happen when women were wearing pads. Guess we’ve found that out.
November 25th, 2010 at 12:03 pm
[...] God. Woman subjected to invasive genital search because TSO was curious about her panty liner. http://blog.gladrags.com/2010/11/24/…ruating-woman/ It’s like the friggin’ 19th century out there. Where do they hire these idiots? Oh, that’s right. [...]
November 25th, 2010 at 12:25 pm
but complaining on the internet is not very productive.
The ACLU is collecting reports of abusive TSA behavior at https://secure.aclu.org/site/SSurvey?ACTION_REQUIRED=URI_ACTION_USER_REQUESTS&SURVEY_ID=1440
The National Sexual Violence Resource Center (http://www.nsvrc.org) has expressed concern about the impact of TSA searches. They can be contacted at resources@nsvrc.org.
You can also google to find contact info for local news media, if you want to draw attention to this problem.
The TSA is a government agency. You can and should complain to your elected representative.
November 25th, 2010 at 12:35 pm
It’s only going to get worse before it (will maybe) get better. The TSA should have been disbanded a long, long time ago. And the TSA wonders why it’s hated worse than the IRS. At least the IRS treats you with “some” (?) respect.. and you get a chance to plead your case.
November 25th, 2010 at 12:47 pm
[...] Bindenhersteller, der diese Meldung verbreitete, ruft nun zum solidarischen Bindentragen auf und vermeldet die Wahrheit, dass menstruierende Frauen [...]
November 25th, 2010 at 3:26 pm
[...] GladRags GabNovember 25, 2010 [...]
November 25th, 2010 at 3:44 pm
I have respect for government and can appreciate how difficult it must be to work with thousands of passengers every day. With that said, I really believe TSA is out of control. This woman was subjected to an examination of her groin area simply because she was menstruating or would soon be menstruating. What kind of police state are we living in if woman are subjected to this kind of assault disguised as security? I have issues of my own around touching. I can’t imagine what it take for someone as strong as her to be reduced to tears.
November 25th, 2010 at 3:48 pm
I am so sorry you went through this. I wonder if this is happening with the disposable PLASTIC ones?
November 25th, 2010 at 3:50 pm
[...] also want to leave this here GladRags Gab Blog Archive TSA Groin Searches Menstruating Woman [...]
November 25th, 2010 at 4:05 pm
[...] TSA Groin Searches Menstruating Woman. [...]
November 25th, 2010 at 4:13 pm
I’m so sorry you had to go through this. It’s important to give warning to others when you’ve been through something you hope others can avoid. I understand the position of the site moderators as well, that the TSA shouldn’t be treated like kindergarteners who can’t learn to understand that one normal state of being a woman is being a menstruating one, and that they’re clearly going to have to learn to deal with this – just like they’re going to have to learn to deal with every other variation of ‘human being’ that isn’t Straight White Able-bodied Man. And that dealing with it shouldn’t involve mistreating every traveler who doesn’t fit that model.
So instead of doing either of these things – taking off your glad rag or proudly wearing it through the scanners (I don’t know how it’s possible to stop menstruating for the security process and start up on the other side, since what*ever* you use is going to be questionable, apparently) – I would like to remind people that it is their constitutional right to be free of unreasonable searches or seizures, and that if you don’t agree that the original poster’s treatment at the hands of the TSA is acceptable, you can refuse it.
It is your right as a traveler to be treated only to security measures that are required and necessary – and the scanners and pat-downs as a primary security policy are not. If you’re going to carry anything through security, make it a voice-only recorder (they get shirty too about video and the battery life for any such device probably wouldn’t outlast the delay you may encounter anyway). Inform the security agents you encounter that you’re voice-recording the encounter for your safety and calmly agree to comply with any security measures that they are willing to be recorded as saying are mandatory and necessary, but refuse to allow them to touch you. It is a human right not to be touched by anyone you don’t want touching you. Remind them.
November 25th, 2010 at 4:55 pm
It’s absolutely ridiculous how far “Security Theater” is being taken. My family won’t be flying.
November 25th, 2010 at 5:09 pm
[...] Menstruating woman at the tsa. [...]
November 25th, 2010 at 5:45 pm
[...] Good grief. It’s astonishing that people are being treated this way in this country. But what ultimately happened is that I was subjected to search so invasive that I was left crying and dealing with memories that I thought had been dealt with years ago of prior sexual assualts. Why? Because of my flannel panty-liner. These new scans are so horrible that if you are wearing something unusual (like a piece of cloth on your panties) then you will be subjected to a search where a woman repeatedly has to check your “groin” while another woman watches on (two in my case – they were training in a new girl – awesome). So please, please, tell the ladies not to wear their liners at the airport (I didn’t even have an insert in). [...]
November 25th, 2010 at 5:51 pm
I honestly would have reached in and handed it to them, preferably soggy with its intended use. I understand that you appreciate their delicacy in doing their jobs, but their jobs are asking them to do something blatantly harmful and wrong. I hope you again find peace from the memories they dredged up for you.
November 25th, 2010 at 6:17 pm
That was a very awful thing to happen. I couldn’t even imagine being in your shoes. And yet, if some suicide bomber chick decided to blow up your plane with the junk between her thighs, all finger would blame the TSA. OK, so the hardware needs some work. Why don’t you make a suggestion to those who can make the adjustments.
November 25th, 2010 at 7:24 pm
[...] her testimony: These new scans are so horrible that if you are wearing something unusual (like a piece of cloth [...]
November 25th, 2010 at 8:36 pm
Respectfully, IMO they’re not taking it seriously enough. I don’t mean the front-line employees we have to deal with at the airport; I mean the people at the top who :create: the policy. Could they somehow not anticipate that a certain percentage of the public would be menstruating? Or wearing an ostomy bag? Breast implants? Piercings? IUDs?
Of course security decision-makers could have anticipated these variations among human bodies — had the policy been rigorously researched, thought out, and articulated before rolling it out. Frankly, McDonald’s has superior management practices. In fact, there’s *no* data that supports their claim that these freakishly invasive practices result in superior safety outcomes. The fact is, for a variety of social, historical, anatomical and medical reasons, this practice is harder on women as a class than it is on men as a class. The fact is, there should be a higher burden -a MUCH higher burden- of evidence required before a policy is enacted that tramples so fundamentally on our human and civil rights. And that is why I would be confident that this policy would be thrown out when it is eventually argued before the Supreme Court — had the Court itself not been hijacked by the far right and by corporate interests. As it is right now, I’m not so sure, and that should scare us every bit as much as the porn/grope policy and the terrorism it purports to fight.
November 25th, 2010 at 9:23 pm
I am so sorry any human being has to go through a search that is beyond invasive. If confidentiality is so important re: doctors, hospitals etc. none of these folks should have to reveal medical conditions temporary or permanent in order to board an airplane. This is at the point of total insanity-worse she gets watched too. For victims of sexual assault no matter how long ago this happened this must be pure torture. Some of these people are going to be so traumatized they may end up in the hospital-pass out from sheer fright.
November 25th, 2010 at 9:49 pm
The Fourth Amendment (Amendment IV) to the United States Constitution is the part of the Bill of Rights which guards against unreasonable searches and seizures.
Nice to see nobody cares about the constitution anymore. The terrorists have won.
November 25th, 2010 at 10:15 pm
[...] customer of popular women’s health company, Gladrags, relayed her recent experience at the hands of the TSA via [...]
November 26th, 2010 at 12:57 am
[...] And then you have a woman being subjected to an invasive search because she was wearing a cloth line…. The HELL. [...]
November 26th, 2010 at 1:14 am
Last year, in South India, some religious fundamentalists were misusing Hindu principles to harass girls and women on Valentine’s day. Hinduism does not allow anyone to decide anyone else’s faith and choices. But these goons targetted women on V-Day by calling them loose and promiscuous. Indian girls are generally what you would call prudes in USA. Very much lesser relationships.
However, urban Indian girls and women decided to teach these guys a lesson and snail-mailed pink underpants (called the “Pink Chaddi” campaign) to the offices of the outfit.
I don’t suggest such a drastic response, but I definitely encourage calling the pat-down as it is – “pants-down” or “Pantycheck”. If you girls speak boldly, and use the words “Pantycheck” while standing in the queue and speaking to the TSA, they cannot arrest you and they cannot rebuke you, because where they check, there really are panties/underpants/etc.
Men in office cannot say the words “Pantycheck” without squirming. Use that against them. Make the men say embarrassing things in order to make them feel a small part of the violation that you feel. Otherwise, men will never care for what women feel. When they get a taste of public shame, they *might* backtrack.
I suggest a campaign to call Michael Chertoff as “Mike Pantycheck Shirt-off”.
Good luck, and remember, your mom is your mom because she is a woman!
November 26th, 2010 at 2:53 am
This is absolutely UNACCEPTABLE!!! Please tell us that this glad rags user REPORTED the TSA and filed a report with the FAA. This little entry above will not carry far enough to LET THE GOVERNMENT KNOW we will not take this SH%T anymore. This is close to being one of the most screwed up stories I’ve read so far. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE report this incident to the FAA!
November 26th, 2010 at 8:51 am
[...] TSA Groin Searches Menstruating Woman (Thanks, Jen!) Share and Enjoy: [...]
November 26th, 2010 at 11:12 am
[...] TSA Groin Searches Menstruating Woman (Thanks, Jen!) [...]
November 26th, 2010 at 12:12 pm
Heck with sensitizing the TSA.
TSA should be shut down, their airport jobs outsourced to private contractors (with full legal liability), and the TSA professionals…err, union hacks sent back to Arby’s and Walmart where they might be marginally employable. When even my leftest daughter and I can agree on something (which in this case we DO), this TSA thing isn’t going away Janet.
FWIW, the scanners at SEA were NOT in operation Thanksgiving Evening (roped-off). Only metal detectors being used. The threat must not be that urgent, eh.
November 26th, 2010 at 12:34 pm
[...] blog GladRags published a post including a quoted first hand account of how the TSA Groin Searches Menstruating Women and infowars also posted the account of how the TSA Groin Searches Menstruating [...]
November 26th, 2010 at 12:51 pm
[...] The stranger publicly groping your wife and daughter at the airport may have a prior [...]
November 26th, 2010 at 1:15 pm
That’s horrible! And horrible for your friend Jessie
.
November 26th, 2010 at 1:25 pm
Sick, perverted TSA agents, yet another violation of our rights. Add it to the list of gov’t violations of our right:
They violate the 1st Amendment by placing protesters in cages, banning books like “America Deceived II” and censoring the internet.
They violate the 2nd Amendment by confiscating guns.
They violate the 4th and 5th Amendment by molesting airline passengers.
They violate the entire Constitution by starting undeclared wars for foreign countries.
Impeach Obama and sweep out the Congress, except Ron Paul.
(Last link of Banned Book):
http://www.iuniverse.com/Bookstore/BookDetail.aspx?BookId=SKU-000190526
November 26th, 2010 at 1:32 pm
Why is there never any verifiable facts to go along with these stories? I don’t mean names and addresses. Just the name of the airport or the day and time. It is always a friend of a friend or some terrible story with no way to know if its true or not. We need to be curious folks.
November 26th, 2010 at 2:37 pm
[...] if you don’t believe TSA agents are sticking their hands down people’s pants, think again! I was wondering when this was going to happen. A customer of popular women’s health company, [...]
November 26th, 2010 at 2:55 pm
Hijacking and other aviation security risks are as old as airplanes. What’s new is our cowardice and fear of the new bogeyman who is apparently so ubiquitous, we are all suspects. If we subject ourselves to such humiliation, allowing ourselves and our children to be molested by a special class of uniformed people, we will tolerate almost anything. Flying is dangerous even when there are no terrorists. Let the armed pilots and Federal Marshals do their jobs, and let’s keep our dignity.
November 26th, 2010 at 4:07 pm
[...] be they disposable or reusable, is a simple monthly fact of life for women.* For the TSA, however, it was an excuse to fondle her in ways only her sexual partner or her doctor normally would. ….. I recently traveled via [...]
November 26th, 2010 at 4:12 pm
[...] written testimony, seems to be yes. A customer of popular women’s health company, Gladrags, relayed her recent experience at the hands of the TSA via email. In short, she was asked to walk through a radiation firing naked [...]
November 26th, 2010 at 5:47 pm
I’m confused about this: isn’t cloth and hair invisible to the x-ray backscatter scans? That’s why they are sometimes called “naked scans”: they don’t show clothes. Aren’t the flannel glad rags cloth? Maybe this person went though a millimeter wave scanner, but from the wikipedia article, cloth is also supposed to be translucent in the millimeter wave scanner. I thought that was the point.
Despite my confusion, I strongly endorse the suggestion that we folks who don’t mind pat-downs wear glad rags through scanners, to help familiarize TSA employees with what they look like. And I don’t see any reason to restrict this suggestion to women: any man (who owns a pair of briefs, anyway) who can borrow glad rags to go through security could also help train TSA employees on what cloth rags look like.
November 26th, 2010 at 6:51 pm
Muslims win again because their beliefs are that menstruating women are filthy and should not leave the home. Well, now they can’t.
Thanks, TSA, for setting the feminist movement back, oh, about 500 years!
November 26th, 2010 at 7:13 pm
This could happen regardless of brand of panty-liner. A friend and I were just discussing this the other day. I’m sad to see that my suspicions were correct- that they would be pulled for an embarrassing and unnecessary “pat down”. Gah.
November 26th, 2010 at 7:58 pm
[...] TSA Groin Searches Menstruating Woman [...]
November 26th, 2010 at 11:40 pm
It is utterly disgusting that government agents presume the right to violate women on their monthly period — or at any other time.
If women, if their husbands, or for that matter, the American public puts up with this abuse of authority, they deserve to be treated this way.
November 27th, 2010 at 4:03 am
[...] “Now, I don’t want this to be about bad TSA agents,” she wrote in an email to GladRag’s blog. [...]
November 27th, 2010 at 7:56 am
[...] customer of popular women’s health company, Gladrags, relayed her recent experience at the hands of the TSA via [...]
November 27th, 2010 at 8:51 am
I was talking about this with my spouse, brought out a glad rag to show him what I was talking about, and my initial confusion about the glad rags showing up on the naked scanners has been clarified. The scanners saw the metal snap. My spouse and I are not sure that lots of people going through scanners with metal snaps would result in anyone with glad rags being able to get through security without a genital patdown — with the fear of underwear bombers, small amounts of metal (that could conceivably by coiled up ignition wires, for example), might inevitably result in a patdown or even a strip search.
November 27th, 2010 at 12:22 pm
“I don’t want this to be about bad TSA agents; they were doing their job”
You know who else was only doing their jobs between 1939 and 1945 ?
November 27th, 2010 at 1:21 pm
DONT tell people to go through the scanners. They are dangerous, as was explained via university studies done on the exposure to harmful xrays.
Pat-downs are suppose to be humiliating. Your trauma will convince you, and other women, they would rather go through the scanner. GREAT job, corporate Amerika!
It is better to suggest ‘no flying’ at all. Until enough people wake up the airline industry to take control of their own security measures. The US airline companies can OPT-OUT of the TSA and hire their own personel to assure their customer’s safety.
So DONT tell women to harm themselves…tell women to get smart, and petition the airline industry and BOYCOTT!
November 27th, 2010 at 4:14 pm
[...] the GladRags blog: TSA Groin Searched Menstruating Women __________________ 3a/b hair, CG off & on since Oct. 08 Check out my bead & jewelry [...]
November 27th, 2010 at 10:34 pm
Sexual assault victims need to gang together and take on the TSA–and congress. All sorts of groups who represent victims of sex crimes need to demand hearings in congress over this and demand the TSA–Terrorism by Sexual Assault– be ABOLISHED.
November 27th, 2010 at 10:51 pm
[...] Backlash grows against full-body airport scanners TSA Groin Searches Menstruating Woman GladRags Gab Blog Archive TSA Groin Searches Menstruating Woman [...]
November 28th, 2010 at 2:12 am
[...] TSA Groin Searches Menstruating Woman GladRags recommends deliberately wearing panty liners through security so the TSA is less inclined to forcibly molest sex abuse victims. (tags: tsa security police.state) Comments [...]
November 28th, 2010 at 8:24 am
[...] and the perverts working at TSA. A woman was singled out for a very invasive search after her pantyliner obscured the image screeners view of her genitals. “This email isn’t going to be as polished as I would normally send, [...]
November 28th, 2010 at 11:25 am
It’s just a step towards requiring the RFID implants. They will be able to wave you through if you have the chip, they will know everything about you and your whereabouts at all time. This is what its all about!! This is orchestrated to make us SCREAM FOR THEM TO COME UP WITH A NONE INVASIVE WAY OF SCREENING. The will keep offending and abusing until we can’t take it anymore. The RFID chip will be the solution, and the American People will willingly get implanted. It’s not about safety, it’s about getting us to comply to their control. Playing on our fears to achieve what they couldn’t otherwise.
November 28th, 2010 at 12:05 pm
[...] More about TSA “enhanced” scanners: GladRags published a letter this week from a customer whose flannel pantyliner led to a search of he…. [...]
November 28th, 2010 at 4:05 pm
How about we say “NO YOU CRAZY BASTARDS” 9-11 was an inside job just so they had an excuse to take our liberties away like the TSA is doing. They are going to next move all this gestapo crap into train stations and malls. If we don’t stand up and so hell no, then you better get used to some pervert feeling your genitals or whatever else they want.
Please see the website http://www.ae911truth.org/ 1373 architectural and engineering professionals have said there is no way the planes or the fires brought down the towers.
It’s 1939 and Nazi Germany all over again,but people just cannot learn from history.
November 28th, 2010 at 5:38 pm
[...] customer of popular women’s health company, Gladrags, relayed her recent experience at the hands of the TSA via [...]
November 28th, 2010 at 6:22 pm
[...] womans written testimony, seems to be yes. A customer of popular womens health company, Gladrags, relayed her recent experience at the hands of the TSA via email. In short, she was asked to walk through a radiation firing naked [...]
November 29th, 2010 at 2:19 am
I would have asked for a bucket and my bag so that I could empty the ostomy bag for them if they were so concerned and left it with them. I would have no problem with doing this in public if necessary. As for the pad I would have taken it off and given it to them.
Natural bodily functions don’t bother me, but as I’m an ex-nurse I can be quite bloody minded when I want to be and while certain things, like watching someone vomit, make others feel very sick they have no effect on me.
November 29th, 2010 at 9:34 am
I’m so horrified by this that I’m tempted to buy and wear one myself next time I’m flying!
November 29th, 2010 at 2:56 pm
I am curious if she could tell us more exactly how the search came about.
Did she set off the metal detectors and then get offered a choice between the “enhanced pat-down” and the full-body scan?
Or maybe she was randomly chosen for higher security and chose the scan but then they couldn’t figure out what the pad was on the scan so needed to pat her down?
I guess when I read it again, it sounds more like the second scenario. Goodness! Did it not occur to the TSA that they would be dealing with REAL people with real situations and not just some cardboard cut-out idea they have of a terrorist?
Our family (with two young kids) is traveling next month and I am so not looking forward to it.
I am feeling very badly for all the thousands of people who have already had to serve as “guinea pigs” because the TSA didn’t do any testing of the new measures to figure out the way to do this humanely.
November 29th, 2010 at 5:42 pm
Enjua, I don’t think you can say with complete confidence that it was ONLY the snap that caused the problem. That may be true, but we just don’t know.
November 29th, 2010 at 11:25 pm
Please do not encourage women to go through the x-ray scanners. Independent medical experts have concerns about this. Remember we were told that dental x-rays were low dose and safe for routine screening, yet recently the ADA has changed recommendations away from routine screening to use tailored to the needs of the individual patient. This is because independent research has shown that dental x-rays are strongly correlated to an increased risk of thyroid cancer. Also a University of Washington study in 2004 found dental x-rays of pregnant women was correlated to low birth weight of babies.
http://thedailybite.wordpress.com/2010/01/07/experts-fear-airport-whole-body-scanners-risky-for-women-genetically-vulnerable-to-breast-cancer/
“Columbia University professor of radiation oncology and public health David J. Brenner, Ph.D., is uncomfortable with the mandatory scanning of untold thousands of pregnant women and children at airports every year. Brenner, an expert in low-dose radiation risk, embraces the ALARA principle that advocates use of radiation “As Low as Realistically Achievable.” Brenner notes that about 5 percent of the general population is radiosensitive, among them women who carry the BRCA1 and BRCA2 breast cancer genes, and individuals prone to ataxia telangiectasia, an inherited neurodegenerative disease that causes severe disability.”
November 30th, 2010 at 8:11 am
I am interested to know which airport?
November 30th, 2010 at 11:00 am
I had wondered about the full body scanners and what ALL they could SEE and flash to a crowd of people standing around waiting for their turn to go through the same agonizing experience.
If this scan can show a fabric pad, what about a paper/plastic throw away (un)sanitary napkin? and then I wondered about Tampons? Can the scans show that? I would be mortified! I don’t go around announcing my personal womanly monthlky cycles, and I would NOT want that showing up on a large screen anywhere! and what would the TSA think if they SEE a reusable Mentrual Cup such at The Keeper? http://www.keeper.com/
I am horrified at the way several people with medical conditions (illiostomy bags, or other such things) have been treated. Those conditions in and of themselves must be hard enough to live with, but to have to have it broadcast and then treated poorly must be a degrading/humiliating experience. It is WRONG!
As a sexual abuse survivor, I have a lot of body issues, and would completely break down at being ‘assaulted’ while being groped/searched! I’m sure that I am not alone (sadly).
And as a mother of daughters I am now concerned for my young girls, and how they might be treated if they were to travel. I am afraid for them having to go through such a personal humiliating type of an experience, as a young woman, whether an abuse survivor or not!
THERE has GOT to be a BETTER way!!!!!!!!
November 30th, 2010 at 1:21 pm
I just sent a note to the TSA suggesting that the get samples of cloth pads to use in the training of their female TSA officers. I’m sure they could get free samples if they need them.
Please do he same.
Here is their contact information.
https://contact.tsa.dhs.gov/DynaForm.aspx?FormID=20
I included a copy of this letter with my note.
Thank you!
November 30th, 2010 at 1:24 pm
I guess the best thing to do is to bring an extra and show it to them and say you are also wearing one. I agree with the nurse I’d take mine off and hand it to them if they are so concerned. I’m not all that shy. lol. I understand that not everyone feels this way. I am an abuse survivor but we all process things differently.
November 30th, 2010 at 3:56 pm
I wonder and ponder why so few people are asking the question: how does Israel handle airport security!?!
From what I’ve understood so far they use far more profiling on passengers, looking at the way they behave, etc. That’s something that probably requires a far more expensive training than the one the TSA people get…
December 1st, 2010 at 12:19 am
[...] expérience encore plus édifiante est celle subie par une voyageuse qui a été invitée à traverser un de ces Body Scanners. L’appareil a produit une [...]
December 1st, 2010 at 11:41 am
[...] the Gladrags blog entry on the [...]
December 2nd, 2010 at 2:30 pm
Only in the us of a. Glad I life on the otherside of the great atlantic
December 5th, 2010 at 12:31 am
Am I the only one who noticed that she didn’t mention the metal snap on the liner? I’m pretty sure the metal is what caught the scanners attention, not the extra piece of cloth she was wearing. I looked at their liners and they have a snap so you can add extra absorbency. Just avoid wearing the ones with snaps.
December 5th, 2010 at 4:09 pm
Two things-
1) The measured dose of radiation from a scanner is roughly the same as you would receive from spending one minute on a plane at 35,000 feet. If you’re not comfortable with the radiation from the scan, you shouldn’t be getting on a plane.
2) This story doesn’t completely make sense. These scanners can see through clothes, but not a panty-liner? What kind of panty liner shields you whilst your other clothes do not? I’m not saying it didn’t happen. I wasn’t there. I know for sure there are people who have been embarrassed by these screenings. I also know that there are people who are highly motivated to cast a shadow of doubt on TSA, and would happily say just about anything if it meant closure of these scanners. It surprises me that everyone is taking this story as gospel. How many thousands of people go through these scanners daily? Are we to suppose that this is the first menstruating female to have gone through one? Why have we not heard this story before?
December 6th, 2010 at 8:23 am
[...] on my writing style, I can’t take credit–these things have happened and continue to happen. GladRags Gab Blog Archive TSA Groin Searches Menstruating Woman TSA Recalled Memories for Sex-Assault Victim | NBC San Diego Passengers Claim TSA Sexual Assault – [...]
December 8th, 2010 at 11:26 am
[...] Ladies, if you are wearing a panty-liner, just opt-out. [...]
December 8th, 2010 at 1:25 pm
[...] Yesterday we received a letter from a customer who wore her GladRags Pantyliner through a security scanner and was so traumatized by her resulting TSA search that she wanted to warn other women. Be prepared and see what you can do about it by reading her story here. [...]
December 22nd, 2010 at 5:03 am
[...] was, itself, unjust and further an assault to her (and this was not, sadly, an isolated incident). Another woman was aggressively groin-searched because she was wearing an alternative to a pad while on her period [...]
December 28th, 2010 at 12:29 pm
[...] Head’s up: your panty liner could get you searched. [...]
February 1st, 2011 at 4:28 pm
[...] probably look a little funny on the scan. It’s also quite likely that if the scanner somehow can’t see through a menstrual pad, it can’t see through a few layers of top-of-the-line binding material. And then I get hauled [...]
February 3rd, 2011 at 12:12 pm
We at Rocky Flats Gear are disappointed that DHS/TSA is not more sensitive to people wishing to protect themselves or basic feminine hygiene. Media and “official” claims the images are “fuzzy” show “a ghost” like image must be “true” if a small pad is clearly detected. Using powerful ionizing radiation to “inspect” US like a piece of luggage for “security” is just dangerous to public health. We have all have put on sunblock or tee shirt to stop UV radiation to prevent skin burn and potentially skin cancer. I know DHS and the mfg claim it is 100% safe just like cigarettes were “safe” we don’t need to wait 10 years to figure this out.
On a lighter note stories I have heard about PMS (and personal experience) I’m surprised to not hear about TSA people being sent to a hospital or worse for messing with women at that time.
We at Rocky Flats Gear mfgs of radiation protective undergarments don’t encourage anyone to be irradiated for a non-medical purpose “OPT-OUT”, as a significant percentage of the population is genetically radio-sensitive to x-rays. Other population groups such as the elderly, very young, and expecting mothers should avoid exposure as well. The security area is radioactive from backscattered x-rays and leakage from baggage screening equipment. The AIT backscatter as the name implies looks at scattered x-rays, with no shields in-place the area is flooded with invisible high energy radiation. Standing in the security line, work around this equipment all day you are exposed just physics 101. Only about 2-5% of the x-rays bounce off your skin (look up Compton scattering) the bulk of the x-rays are absorbed by your tissue and DNA like a shotgun blast some exit the other side, to continue the carnage. The skin, breast, ovaries, eyes, thyroid and testicles are radio sensitive. Request our free reports to learn more about ionizing radiation and security. Happy Landings!
July 22nd, 2011 at 1:55 am
Not only do we have to put up with the bad attitude of the TSA agents, but after reading this post I am absolutely floored. That they could subject a women to this type of scrutiny is appalling.
May 8th, 2012 at 7:21 pm
I would have straight up refused. Throw me in jail, I don’t give a fuck, but you’re not getting near that. That’s completely unjust.