Originally Posted by Bart

As with the pat-downs of the breast area, I believe there are a lot of exaggerations regarding pat-downs of the groin area. There may be some instances of screeners incorrectly conducting a pat-down; however, here is the correct TSA procedure:

Under no circumstances are male screeners to directly touch the male genitalia. Keep in mind that there may be incidental contact, but it is not meant to be intentional.

The screener should position the back of his hands parallel to the zipper with fingers pointed upwards and slide them from the waistband down towards the crotch but stopping short of actually touching the crotch. The trick is in how closely the hands are positioned, and here is where some problems of incidental contact may occur. The theory is that the sliding motion will loosen anything that may be concealed underneath. There have been variations of this procedure. When we first began, TSA required us to slide our hands down to the inner thigh, which is pretty close to "full contact." Those procedures quickly evolved to what I just described. So there should be no "crotch-grabbing" as alleged unless the screener is not performing the procedure correctly. If this happens, then notify a supervisor immediately.