Originally Posted by
littlesheep
If you had a colostomy bag, or an insulin pump, would you expect a guard at the entrance to the supermarket, hair salon, dentist or hospital to paw at it, or would you expect to go about your life with your privacy, medical info and respect intact? When you get dressed in the morning, do you go about town expecting people to put their hands on your genitals and caress your breasts?
I would expect to go about my life as usual, no doubt.
Now, why is it that you think the normal expectations of a normal human being, to go about their life unmolested, with their dignity intact, have to be thrown by the wayside when they need to fly?
The difference is that you don't get body scanned when you go to the supermarket, the salon, the dentist or hospital (ok, well,maybe the hospital), whereas you do get scanned at the airport. Once you get scanned, the item shows up. Then what? It's an object hidden under clothing. (With good reason of course.) How should we handle it?
How would you feel if your dentist groped your breasts and genitals or asked to see and examine your colostomy bag? How would you feel if the guard at the entrance to the hospital, where you're going for a check up with your surgeon or endocrinologist, groped your genitals and massaged your colostomy bag?
Of course I'd be damn well pissed off, but until congress mandates we get body scanned before entering such places, we're just sensationalizing the issue.
Why do you think it's acceptable for you or any other non medical person to do this to anyone? Or for any person, including a doctor, to invade and touch another person in the manner, except in the context of medical treatment, with their full consent?
This is exactly the line I'm trying to find. On the one hand, if I were the one with the colostomy bag (damn that empathy of mine again), I would not like it "dealt with" or addressed in anyway. BUT, when operating under parameters we are operating under, once an unidentified object comes to light, it needs to be addressed. Like a poster before you said (sorry I forgot your name offhand), this issue is that we have to assume nefarious intent even when there ultimately is none. Even though the "invading" and touching was nothing more than swabbing her hands the reason behind it was her bag, so it's all the same in her eyes.