X-ray backscatter security scanners

[KnottedYet]

I'm with MomOnBike. There's cancer in my family history, and I have touch issues! I'd be more than willing to submit to a background check. They can go through my luggage with a fine-toothed comb, and I would wear lycra if that would help. Given the choice, I'd probably still take the scanner. The prospect of being touched all over by a stranger is more than I could take.

Deb

I've been kidnapped and viciously raped, with nasty brutality with a knife and threat of death involved.

I've had cancer.

Both gave me scars.

Frankly, I'm more afraid of the damn cancer. The kidnapping and the rape messed me up bad (and years of therapy still haven't fixed it, and simply can't... it's my life and every day is a choice to continue living) but cancer takes that choice to live away from me and puts it in the hands of one rogue cell of my body.

I can survive the pat-down. I can choose to fly to be with my loved ones and take the pat-down.

But the x-ray backscatter expends all its energy at the level of the skin, and that's where all my cancer has been so far. The choice is stolen from me with x-ray backscatter.

I can choose to have a mammogram, because I am at very high risk for breast cancer and that exposure is carefully controlled and I have decided it is worth it to me.

But when the choice is a pat down (not my idea of fun, but worth it to be able to fly this time) vs. the x-ray scan (no personal touch issues here, but the possiblity that the scan could trigger more cancer which I really think is bad news) my choice is to live.

As it is actively chosen. every. single. day. of. my. life.

Will I choose to fly next time? I dunno. Probably. Love is more important than fear. Getting where I want to be in 2 hours vs. 18 is more important than avoiding touch in pat-downs (which I have experienced before when I trigger the alert).

Will I let it make me stop traveling? No. Yup, I think the current stuff is stupid and does NOTHING to make us safer. Yup, the convenience of flying is worth the bearable anxiety of being touched through my lycra by a strange woman. (if it were a man, I'd probably freak, and that's the honest truth)

Everyone needs to make their choices. Fly or not? X-ray backscatter or pat-down? And then either live with those choices, or get up and do something about it.

[moonfroggy]

there is no cancer in my family
but i'm a survivor of incest
and the xray thing the pictures i have seen of what they see is enough to make me uncomfortable and the idea that if i was on my period they would need to see my menstrual products.
the pat down the xray thing
i guess being a survivor of incest means i have no family i would want to see anyway and luckily the majority of my friends all live within a few hours of me.
i didn't like flying before this and i sure as heck won't be flying anyplace while this is in place. but i have been seriously talking with my husband about wanting to do long distance bike touring when my son and any future children are old enough to pedal too and this gives me more reason to go for that. the husband things bike touring sounds crazy but this whole thing makes him not want to fly anyplace either so i guess in a way this helps my case for traveling by bike.

[pumpkinpony]

A side note on menstrual products...

I seem to get selected for 'random' security screening every time I fly. I had one flight that was a late notice rush - as I was packing I upended an entire box of tampons at the last minute into my carry-on. I got selected for screening and a 'bag check'. That was the quickest bag check ever! Two TSA guys open it up, look inside, close it and ask for a supe. Now three TSA guys, I'm trying hard not to laugh at them... They open the bag again (off to the side now) and the Supe takes a quick look, closes it, and asks if I have any liquids inside. After saying no they let me go.

[KnottedYet]

I had a "marital aid" in my bag once.

It had sparkly silver bits through-out. Very pretty.

The silver glitter showed up on the hand baggage x-ray.

TSA chick ran my bag through. Backed it up. Ran it through again. Backed it up again. Ran it through again. Dude training her said, "No matter how many times you run it through, it's gonna look the same." He had to explain to her what it was. She thought it was a bong. I just stood there smiling.

Whisked me through, and done!

I also had a similar experience with a Brooks saddle. (B68, for those who care.) I told the x-ray guy what it was, "It's a bike saddle," and they let me go without opening my backpack.

[Jolt]

A side note on menstrual products...

I seem to get selected for 'random' security screening every time I fly. I had one flight that was a late notice rush - as I was packing I upended an entire box of tampons at the last minute into my carry-on. I got selected for screening and a 'bag check'. That was the quickest bag check ever! Two TSA guys open it up, look inside, close it and ask for a supe. Now three TSA guys, I'm trying hard not to laugh at them... They open the bag again (off to the side now) and the Supe takes a quick look, closes it, and asks if I have any liquids inside. After saying no they let me go.

LOL at the mental image of that scene...maybe I should try that next time I fly! As for the x-ray/patdown thing, yuck. Flying is less than pleasant anyway (the hassles of getting to the airport, the frequent delays, all the waiting around that's involved, not to mention the fact of being trapped in a metal tube 30,000 feet above the ground way too close to a bunch of total strangers with no way out) and this just tops it off. I wish we had high-speed rail service throughout the USA...that would be a much nicer way to travel.