Victim Of Violent Rape Re-Violated By The TSA
On FlyerTalk.com, bishop1847 left this post:
A pat down that ended my wife up in the ERMy wife and I had a horrific experience traveling out of FLL yesterday.
Five years ago, she was violently sexually assaulted by three men and was threatened with death. She made it, and tried to bury it for three years. After nightmares, flashbacks, and cutting she told me everything two years ago, and since then has been seeing professional counseling and taking medication. The incident happened in FL, but we now live elsewhere.
We were back in FL due to a death in the family - whenever we're there, she's always on edge (understandably). The security checkpoint had a backscatter and a metal detector active. I always opt-out, and unfortunately I was chosen to go through the metal detector instead of her. My wife was sent towards the backscatter, and told the TSO she didn't want to go through that. I then overheard the TSO graphically describing that "they will need to touch your privates..." (I know TSOs routinely scare people into going through the nude-o-scopes.) That just about did it for my wife, and she started shaking, sweating, and ended up going through the backscatter.
And then they discovered an "anomaly" in her bra, so she needed to be patted down on her breasts. This freaked her out even more. She asked for a private room and for me to be there, and it was obvious that this pissed off the female assist TSO. As she started shaking and sobbing in the room as the TSO began to touch her breasts, I gently touched her arm. Big mistake - the TSO yelled that I couldn't touch her and that I'd need to go through screening again.
I was furious, but my wife wanted to just get out of the checkpoint and to our gate. She popped some pills and was hoping it would all go away... But it didn't. Once we got to our home airport, she vomited in the bathroom and asked me to take her to the ER. Last night she checked into our local hospital, and they're wanting to transfer her to a psychiatric ward for a few days until she stabilizes.
Is this worth it? Had she been permitted to go through the metal detector, she would have been fine. But the language of the TSOs and lack of sympathy towards anyone with mental health issues is repulsive. Every mental health professional we've talked to despises what the TSA is doing.
Do rape victims or other people suffering with PTSD have any rights, or is it the usual "if you don't like it, don't fly!" bull?
What's sick is that there seems to be no one the TSA needs to answer to. Members of the Senate and the House have complained and hearings have been held and it's rights violations as usual at airports every day -- and with not a single terrorist found by them.
I'm reading an advance copy of Greg Lukianoff's terrific book, Unlearning Liberty: Campus Censorship and the End of American Debate,
We have become far too complacent about our civil liberties.
Imagine our Founding Fathers putting up with these violations of our bodies and constitutional rights? Do you think they would have smiled and gave the TSA thug the go-ahead to violate their balls, and in the name of "security"?
My heart sank as I read this. I have a lot of the same issues, thankfully I don't fly often and being a military spouse has, I think, kept the TSA animals from treating me too badly. I always use my mil dep card to check in so that they know what they are dealing with, so far I haven't been molested.
I hate to say it, but everytime we fly, we reward bad behavior by not giving them the strongest protest to end this charade possible, and that is to vote with our feet. Don't fly, and let the airlines know that their precious buisinesses are losing money because the TSA behemouth is out of control. If they are moving into trains and busses, start driving yourself.
Once a beaurocrat tastes blood, they will never give up that cushy, well paid to do nothing job that also lets them be little Napoleons.
Kat at September 10, 2012 11:22 PM
Amy, Lukianoff's book sounds like another perspective on this book, "The Victims’ Revolution: The Rise of Identity Studies and the Closing of the Liberal Mind" by Bruce Bawer, published last week.
(I haven't read it, but thought you might be interested in reviewing both.)
http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2012/09/05/barbara-kay-the-face-of-identity-studies-on-campus/
jerry at September 10, 2012 11:32 PM
This is another reason why we need to elect a Republican President. Because the minute that Mitt Romney takes the oath of office, the media will be all over the TSA backstory, investigating all of its connections and probing as to why Congress has been reluctant to take this on, so that they can blame Romney for it. There will be protests and uproars and steps will be taken. But as long as Obama is President, the media will be in the tank and nothing will happen.
Cousin Dave at September 11, 2012 6:53 AM
I know someone who was raped by two men. It took years for her to even be able to stand being near men, any man. She would start shaking, needed to vomit, etc if any man touched her in a friendly manner. PTSD is just as serious as a genetic mental illness. At least when I was crazy I knew it was a chemical imbalance this poor girls body associated men with rape, any man. She would break down completely and needed medication to calm down. I've seen it first hand, sick fucks at the TSA. I would be ranting in full blown rage but I know other defenseless people could not.
Purplepen7 at September 11, 2012 10:50 AM
If dueling were legal, every TSA employee would have been shot in the face by now.
Robert at September 11, 2012 1:41 PM
For all you regular readers of the Goddess' blog you can skip past this post. I'm going to post my regular rant about not needing the TSA. For all you new readers, please read it carefully and refute any statement or misstatement. ;-)
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The TSA was not needed one hour and one minute after Tower II was hit!
The paradigm, the norm, the expected, what everyone was taught to do was to sit down, shut up and wait for the plane to land and the negotiations happen. That was the model from Entebbe onward.
The passengers on board did not really know what was about to happen on September 11, 2001 at 8:46:30 when Flight 11 struck Tower I.
Even the passengers on Flight 175 probably didn't realize what was about to happen when they struck Tower II at 9:03:02.
The Pentagon crash of Flight 77 at 9:37:46 may have been still a matter of ignorance.
At 10:03:11 on September 11, 2001, United Airlines Flight 93 crashed after the brave souls counter-attacked and caused the hijackers to crash the plane.
The time difference is 60 minutes and 9 seconds from Tower II being struck to the crash of Flight 93. The shoe bomber and panty bomber were taken down by fellow passengers as well. Recently, JetBlue's Flight 191 pilot was taken down by the passengers once he was out of the cockpit. Additionally how many times have you heard of passengers' concerns and diverted flights?
The TSA is and has always been a joke, no make that a total stupidity, that has wasted our country's fortune going down a rabbit hole.
If you don't believe me look at the 9/11 timeline.
There will never be another 9/11 style attack unless the attackers can arrange planes full of geriatrics, and even then it would be doubtful.
Oh, and someone brought bombs being an issue. If bombs were effective and simple then the Lockerbie bombing would have been repeated multiple times between 21 December 1988 and 11 September 2001. That's 4647 days or 13 years. Where was the TSA in that time.
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If you've read this far find out who your state and federal senators are.
Then please copy this and send it to them on a regular basis. You can tell who the weasals are by their response.
Jim P. at September 11, 2012 7:10 PM
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