As you may have seen in the news lately, there is a growing backlash over the controversial full-body scanners that are being placed in the airports around the Untied States. CNET.com is reporting that “A growing number of airline passengers, labor unions, and advocacy groups, say the new procedures--a choice of full-body scans or what the TSA delicately calls "enhanced pat-downs"--go too far.”
The article goes on to say that “Unions representing U.S. Airways pilots, American Airlines pilots, and some flight attendants are advising their members to skip the full-body scans, even if it means that their genitals are touched.” Really?! You would rather be sexually assaulted then to be seen naked??
CNET goes on to report that “Air travelers are speaking out online, with a woman saying in a YouTube video her breasts were "twisted," and ExpressJet pilot Michael Roberts emerging as an instant hero after he rejected both the body scanning and "enhanced pat-downs" options and was unceremoniously ejected from the security line from Memphis International Airport.”
As I try to look at this issue from a nudist perspective, two things strike me as odd:
1. As a country that has no problem with exposure to violence yet recoils in horror at the sight of a bare breast (Ms. Jackson if you’re Nasty!), are we making a big deal out of nothing? Does it really matter who sees us naked? Why is this such a hang up for us? I certainly don’t want to go through an “enhanced pat-down” every time I go to the airport. Actually, I got no problem riding the plan in my birthday suit. But I’m a nudist and once you’ve embraced the lifestyle, your perspective on these issues tends to be a little skewed.
2. There is very little discussion on the long-term effects that this type of radiation may play on our bodies. Again, from the CNET article “Body scanners penetrate clothing to provide a highly detailed image that TSA says is viewed by a remote technician. Technologies vary, with millimeter wave systems capturing fuzzier images with non-ionizing radio waves and backscatter X-ray machines able to show precise anatomical detail.”
UPDATE 11/15/10: Biochemist says 'naked' X-ray scanner may be unsafe
Below is an image of an adult man that was taken using a Rapiscan Secure 1000 backscatter X-ray scanner. What testing has been done to assure us this is safe?
The ACLU has dubbed these devices "naked strip search machines" and a growing number of web sites have been launched to try and bring this to an end. Including Nudeoscope.com, DontScan.us, and StopDigitalStripSearches.org, all are hoping to translate dissatisfaction into political action.
UPDATE 11/15/10
I understand that we need to protect our right to privacy and that sometimes good intentions can become over reaching. Those who have left comments about this story seem most concerned about "handing over liberties without hesitation and tolerating these invasions." Excellent points that I don't disagree with!
However, isn’t the way our culture views nudity also part of the problem? When this story first broke, the press seemed more concerned with the fact that others would see us naked rather then the safety of the machines, the invasiveness of the "enhanced pat-downs", or the fact that images of screened passengers were being saved for unknown reasons. Perhaps the MAIN issue here is that our right to be clothed is just as important as our right to be naked. All rights need to be fought for and preserved.
As for me, just let me fly naked! Life is so much better nude.
4 comments:
For me there is much more at stake here. You touched on the issue, but really skimmed over it as if to trivialize this important freedom. I am, of course, talking about the right to privacy. If we don't draw the line and say, "no more!" what right is next? I know that the author of this blog would be the one of the first and one of the loudest to complain if the government made all nudity in front of others illegal. What's to stop them when they've already taken all our other rights, such as the right to free speech and the right to bear arms? So, no, it's not just "Yeah, right to privacy, blah, blah, blah," but "HEY! back off and leave me alone!"
They came first for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for me
and by that time no one was left to speak up.
-- Martin Niemoller
Excellent point! Thanks for posting.
I can visualize a time when we might be required to actually be nude to go through airport security, especially if it's found that these scanners do emit too much harmful radiation. (Or will TSA say that the increased threat of cancer is worth it in comparison with the threat of terrorism?)
My issue with the scanners isn't with the nude images but with the larger issues of privacy and the possible harmful effects of the radiation. Since 9/11 we have been handing over liberties without hesitation and tolerating these invasions. Everyone complains about them but most submit to them.
Most of the security measures instituted have been knee-jerk reactions to one-time incidents with little regards to privacy, safety or rights.
Terrorism has already won. Since 9/11 we, as a nation, have lived in terror of something happening which is the aim of terorism.
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