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The TSA's latest ramping-up of its security checks , namely, the "enhanced" pat-downs, has been all over the news, internet, and blogosphere lately. With YouTube videos, Twitter hashtags, and comment threads that for the most part, support the outrage and condemnation presented by journalists, bloggers, and video posters alike, the general public seems to have reached its verdict on the new procedures.
And I agree with this condemnation. Before I get to my problem with some of what's being written, let me make it very clear - I am not a fan of these latest additions to our "security" procedures for air travel. While I understand the reasoning behind them, I feel they are being implemented poorly and without adequate training for their agents. If not done properly, it's humiliating, uncomfortable, possibly frightening if we're talking about children, and for the most part, unneccesary when you look at who is receiving a good portion of these advanced searches. And for the record, I have been on the receiving end of one of these.
But where I don't agree with many who are writing about this including fellow mom-bloggers, is where it's being referred to as sexual assault. I understand that if you've been subjected to one of these and the agent you had did not follow proper procedure and explain to you what was going to happen and offer to have it done in privacy, that you were likely shocked and uncomfortable. Mortified even. But not sexually assaulted.
The TSA agents are doing what they have been told they have to do now, under certain circumstances. Their motivation is to do their job, pick up that paycheck, and hopefully, keep our air travel a little safer. They are not patting you down for sexual pleasure, either yours, or theirs. They are not commiting a sexual act upon you nor are they trying to force you in to one. They are not enacting violence upon you. No matter how hard you think that agent might be crushing on you, really, they are not doing this because secretly they are all homosexual (given that the searches are done by same-sex agents) predators that have just been waiting for their chance to grope as many people as they possibly can on a daily basis. Which is, if you think about it, what is being suggested if you follow the logic of those who claim they are being or have been "sexually assaulted" by the TSA under the newest pat-down guidelines.
Again, I understand that people going through this are upset, and I don't blame them for that. It's the crying wolf I object to. And as someone who has been sexually assaulted twice in my life, I feel the need to speak up about this.
Yes, assault can come in many forms, under many different circumstances and be commited by many different types of people. The two I suffered were completely different from each other in more ways than I can count, yet both still sexual assaults. The common denominator? Motivation. Intent. And that is what is lacking in these situations with the TSA. What someone who is truly sexually assaulting you is intending and or trying to accomplish and what the TSA agents are doing, are not even in the same ballpark.
I read one blog post in particular where the writer stated in capital letters (for effect, I assume) that she had been SEXUALLY ASSAULTED more times than I could count. Honestly? It was offensive. She went on to state that she was demanding counseling for the trauma of this SEXUAL ASSAULT by the TSA. Well, and this is going to sound nasty, but, seriously? How about I tell you what a REAL sexual assault is like, in every last detail, and then you tell me how equivalent you think your experience at the airport was? I am not tring to suggest that the experience was not traumatic for her. Obviously it was upsetting. It was not an assault though, and this is what I think people should understand. I can pretty much guarantee you that if the same blogger heaven forbid ever DID experience a true assault, that she would agree.
I have been assaulted, and I have also had the "new" pat down. Please, please, stop belittling and demeaning what some of us have gone through by suggesting they are the same, or even equating the two.
Concerned about your kids going through this, especially since these days we are so careful to tell
