Since TSA has expanded, and since the beginning of Backscatter and MMW, we have tried to SO to WMD or asked for pat downs instead of being funneled through the machines.

We have also cut our air travel by 75% or more in most recent years.

We are not business travelers like so many here on Flyertalk. We are your average US citizen who used to travel for family and vacation reasons. Not so much anymore, thanks to invasion of our personal space and erosion to our civil freedoms.

In JAX I was called out of a WMD as a random (buzzer), and I know it wasn't because I set off the detector, it was because I have breasts, and the one who "called me" back for the random did it to give his buddy a look. I know it because of the eye contact made as he called his friend over, and the sadistic grin. And yet, I cooperated because I knew that if these creeps want they can make my life even worse of a hell for that day. I cooperated, but all I wanted to do was give the first guy a well deserved spit in the face.

Our friends and neighbors continue to chant "as long as it makes us safer" and "well, you just have to include the hassle of security in your travel plans."

It is discouraging to realize that otherwise intelligent folks do not see how our constitutional rights have been eroded under the false umbrella of "flying safe."

We watch many families and elders get pushed around by the TSA at security gates from PHX, to MIA, JAX and JFK, and just feel so sad that this is our national chant now: "whatever they want, I will do, because I know it is to make us all safe."

We are flying out tomorrow, (if weather permits) and we are really sorry to be facing the security theater yet again.
And yet again, we will do what it takes to resist these tactics and to stand up for what our military have sought so hard to protect: our liberty and our constitution.

It could be worse. You could be in Australia, where you can't opt-out.

I've talked to many people I know about this subject and while some see the points I make, none of them really agree with me on my refusal to go through a body scanner. Most don't want to be patted down and haven't flown enough to encounter a situation where they had to go through a body scanner AND got a full patdown, which I've mentioned can happen. Its more important to them to get through the checkpoint quickly (at whatever cost of rights given up) compared to anything else.

My air travel would probably be a lot more as well if not for the security theatre in place in the USA. I research and try to plan my flying to give me the best chance to SDOO at airports, or look for WTMD only checkpoints that will work. Its difficult and hard to avoid a body scanner or patdown, though, and sadly I don't see it changing anytime soon.

I'm one of those. Fortunately, I've never been selected for a sexual assault, and I will refuse to submit to it if it ever happens to me. I'll go home and not fly that day, but I won't submit.

I am fully aware that you can be selected for a random sexual assault even if you choose the NoS. But the way I figure it - if you go through the NoS, your chances of sexual assault are a small percentage, perhaps 15-20%. But if you opt out, you are 100% guaranteed to get the sexual assault.

I'll take SOME chance of avoiding it over NO chance of avoiding it, any day.

That may be your friends' philosophy, but it's not mine.

My rights are being violated, no matter what. Either I surrender my 4th Amenedment rights, or I surrender my freedom of movement by choosing not to fly. I've chosen to have my 4th Amendment rights violated in order to maintain my freedom of movement.

Likewise, I have some limited control over the degree of violation of my 4th Amendment rights. I can submit to the NoS, or I can submit to the sexual assault. I consider the NoS to be the lesser of two evils, a less invasive, less traumatic, less physically painful/uncomfortable violation of my 4th Amendment rights than the sexual assault. Hence, I choose the NoS (though I SDOO whenever possible).

I understand that choosing the NoS doesn't guarantee that I won't be selected for a sexual assault, but if I am ever selected, I will walk away. I consider the sexual assault a far more grevious violation than the loss of my freedom of movement, so at that point, when and if it comes, I will surrender my freedom of movement to avoid the sexual assault.

My choices differ from yours. But don't make the mistake of believing that anyone who chooses differently from you does so out of ignorance or apathy. I am well informed and I make my choices based on my own personal evaluation of the consequenses.

Some of your friends may be doing the same thing.