Ben Tripp
Posted: November 18, 2010 04:30 PM
Peel and Feel: Bad Policy Never Stops Getting Worse
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ben-tripp/peel-and-feel-bad-policy-_b_785464.html (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ben-tripp/peel-and-feel-bad-policy-_b_785464.html)
The new TSA "peel or feel" passenger security policy has nothing to do with airline safety and everything to do with America's runaway culture of fear.
For those of you just emerging from hibernation, the Transportation Security Agency has upped the ante on its perpetual elevated security crisis stance by demanding all airline passengers pose for an X-ray machine that takes high resolution, front-and-back nude pictures of their bodies. Some deceptively low-quality images produced by these machines have been released for public viewing; don't be fooled. These X-ray images aren't like ordinary medical X-rays. The images are gathered by rays passing through clothing and bouncing off the skin. They expose every fold, crevice, and anatomical detail. It is easy to discern if the subject has had a mastectomy, for example, or is circumcised.
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What about transsexuals? They have little of this, a little of that, and I'm going to guess the screeners will have a hard time figuring out how to respond to it. What gender should the fondler be? How do we ensure the screeners looking at the nude pictures focuses on the job, not the equipment?