Would you mind enduring a “pat-down” procedure performed by a Transportation Security Administration agent of the opposite sex — especially if it means going through the airport security checkpoint faster?
FlyerTalk member Sixth Freedom asks this question after noticing that “when going through security that there is sometimes a wait while a male security chap pats down each member of a queue of men going through whilst a lady stands aside” and claims to have no problem if a woman performed a “pat-down” procedure on him.
Security personnel in China reportedly pat down passengers of the opposite sex on a regular basis, and their airport checkpoint security lines are supposedly efficient. Also, Transportation Security Administration agents are apparently allowed to pat down passengers of the opposite sex on rare occasions — but with the detriment of having to generate an abundance of paperwork as a result.
For me, it does not make a difference: I do not like when anyone pats me down. Just leave me alone, don’t touch me, and let me catch my flight. Then again, I also do not like going through those machines which scan naked images of my body either. I truly wish that a more effective yet more efficient and far less invasive system of processing passengers through an airport security checkpoint was implemented — and the sooner, the better, I say.
Of course, this question tends to assume that the reader is heterosexual, which begs the question: if you are gay or lesbian, do you mind having a Transportation Security Administration agent of the same sex pat you down at an airport security checkpoint? Is there something inherently wrong about the Transportation Security Administration automatically assuming that “pat-down” procedures should be performed by Transportation Security Administration agents of the same gender? Is that discrimination?
What are your thoughts about the questions and points brought up here?