The woman who missed her flight was told by the TSOs still on duty that she could not attempt the scan without a female TSO present. She was also told that she could not sign a waiver to allow a male grope. She was told that if she had been a male, she would have been allowed to pass.

Unless she had just been 'randomly selected' for a mandatory grope, there was no reason to assume that she would alarm the scanner and require a grope.

TSOs posting on this forum in the past have made it clear that, while unlikely except at small airports in unusual circumstances, TSA does not guarantee a same gender grope and it is possible that in rare circumstances (such as this one) that a pax will have to make a choice between opposite-gender grope or a missed flight.

A TSO trainer posting on this forum also noted that although grope training included TSOs practicing on each other, this was not true for opposite gender gropes - that training did not involve any hands-on training.

Perhaps it is the nature of the grope - I have never experienced genital contact or hands inside my clothing when being patted down outside the US. I have been 'patted' down, but never rubbed, chopped or groped. I would be comfortable performing the kind of patdowns I have experienced outside the US. I would never perform the TSA-mandated gropes (I actually considered working for the TSA at one time, but not after the gropes were introduced).