ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, NJ: A six-year-old girl, taking a plane trip with her family in the US, was subjected to what can only be described as a "permissible" grope by a TSA screener. True, terrorists might use children to carry bombs, but is that such a reasonable possibility that kids, traveling with their families that have no connection with terrorists, must be subjected to this type of stranger intimacy?
The current situation with regard to travelers being either exposed to radiation in x-ray scanners or having a less-than-appreciated patdown by an adult in an airport, has resulted in outcries from various individuals and groups. Some of these groups include physicians who neither wish to be exposed to repeated x-rays nor to have their personal space invaded, against their will, by a complete stranger. One man, who had planned to go on a hunting trip, canceled abruptly when he was confronted at an airplane gate and the personnel made an attempt to pat him down. He warned the individual that, "If you touch my junk, I will have you arrested." His comment did not go unnoticed and was carried in a major newspaper where a regularly featured and well-known columnist, related the incident.
Adults have the ability to express their displeasure and to refuse certain types of physical inspection prior to boarding an airplane, but children, who are dependent on the compliance of adults, seem to have no say in the matter. It doesn't matter that the little girl who was subjected to such an unreasonable search of her body cried, probably out of fear and a sense of helplessness. Her parents had agreed to the patdown, stood off to the side and videotaped it. If they had not done this, we would not have been made aware of these types of insensitive, intrusive and frightening experiences for little children.
There is a well-known program that has been active in the United States for a number of years now. It's aimed at teaching children how to protect themselves from strangers who may wish to do unwanted things to them. Portions of the program tell children:
1. Touches that make you feel uncomfortable are usually "bad" touch
2. You don't have to keep a secret when someone gives you a bad touch and you shouldn't feel bad.
3. Whoever gives you a bad touch is the one who is bad, not you.
4. Your body belongs to you. Nobody should touch it if you don't want to be touched.
What's a Bad Touch?
Children are even given steps to decide whether or not something is a good or a bad touch. For instance, good touches are things such as being hugged and kissed by the people you love. These also include the child's mother giving the child a hug and a kiss after they wake up or their father giving them a good night kiss. Grandma and grandpa are also included because they give hugs and kisses when they see the child.
Bad touches are:
1. When someone touches you where you don't want to be touched
2. If a person touches you in a way that makes you feel uncomfortable
3. The touch makes you feel scared and nervous
4. The person forces you to touch him or her
Of course, there are other items in this bad touch list, but they don't really apply when traveling by airplane. However what the child is told to do in this program and how to display their wish not to be touched is obviously dismissed by the TSA. What are children told to do? They are told not to be afraid but to say emphatically, "NO!" Then tell the person they don't like it and they don't want it to happen. There also instructed to run away fast from that person, ask for help, scream, and go to someone they can trust who will help them.
Tell me, which of these things is a child supposed to employ when confronted by a TSA screener who is running their hands up and down that child's body in ways they do not wish nor do they feel comfortable about? It doesn't matter that the screener is using the back of their hand or their arm. The guidelines for children make no distinction about which parts of the body are okay to use and which aren't when it comes to touch. Front of arm or hands and fingers are all in there with the back of the hands and the arms.
The child cannot scream and run away because they will be prevented by the very people who are supposed to protect them; their parents, relatives, or responsible adults. How is a child to perceive this lack of assistance when it has been consistently told to them that these people will help in situations such as this? Even if they tell someone they don't want this, it's going to happen. How helpless and betrayed must they feel. After all the instructions and reassurance they have been given, now they know it is meaningless. How is this going to affect their trust issues? Would you trust adults who told you they would protect you and then didn't?
And the TSA screeners haven't stopped with little children. Adult women who have had mastectomies or men and women who have to wear sanitary appliances have also been forced to have these intrusive searches. One man who had a special medical device found that the roughness of the search dislodged the catheter, leaving him wet with your rent on his clothing. Was this really necessary? The women with the mastectomies were told that they had to have additional searches because of the scars that were showing up on the machines. Where is the sensitivity in all of this and where is the nonsense? There's obviously little of the first and lots of the latter.
Resources:
http://www.uihealthcare.com/depts/uichildrenshospital/childprotection/pdf/GoodTouch.pdf