Originally Posted by FlyingHoustonian

If the TSA has a policy of having a certain gender clerk do the patdown for people claiming to be of the same gender then under the current rules the question is valid. Same thing if the software on the machine scans differently for suspected men and women. Whether that software is more effective is up for debate, though it would seem we don't have all the tech data available at the moment.

Of course the nude-o-scopes are inane, but as I said that is not the point here. And, much like the rest of us that dislike NoS, the person in the OP's story could opt out, and ask for a member of whatever gender they want to present as to do the pat(no pun intended)-down.