Originally Posted by GradGirl

I can almost agree with you, LessO2, that what someone does with his downtime is his own business. And in fact, there wouldn't be any conflict in my mind except for the fact that the TSA has special dispensation to touch the private parts of innocent travelers. No other agency has ever even tried to claim that kind of invasive authority over non-suspicious people. It just hasn't ever been done before. Even police and border guards need suspicion before they may invasively search private parts.
But TSA employees are touching whomever they please. That means that if the public perceives that there are people working for the TSA who get sexual pleasure from wearing uniforms and exercising authority, passengers will be even more frightened and suspicious than they already are about checkpoint breast and genital exams.


TSAJohn, I agree with you: most screeners hate doing breast and genital searches. Then are you on my side in trying to end this practice? Sure, most screeners are getting no pleasure out of what they're doing. Still, no one could ever guarantee that out of 45,000 screeners there's not a single one who has bad intentions toward even a single passenger. In fact, there is plenty of evidence that this indecent search does indeed excite the sexual fantasies of some people. Why are one hundred million innocent people being subected to a sincere risk of being sexually abused, when the TSA hasn't even bothered to inspect cargo?