I have never had so much trouble with TSA (american airport security) until today. My crotch got flagged by their scanners and I had to get a physical patdown (surprise, there was nothing bad). Then I forgot to empty my water bottle so I had to go through it all AGAIN and my crotch was once again flagged and I had to get a physical patdown AGAIN (surprise, nothing bad yet again).
Then my other bag gets flagged after going through the thing again despite my not adding anything to it. The TSA guy opens up my bag and I’m assuming saw my packer which I kept in there to put it back in after I went through security. He then giggles and calls multiple of his coworkers over to look at it. Luckily he didn’t take it out. This whole damn time I’m right there. Ugh. Considering getting a lumpy cloth packer just to avoid this ever happening again.
I’m assuming that my crotch kept getting flagged because trans? I’ve never had this happen to me before.
It’s not just the TSA; I had an unpleasant experience some years ago flying through Frankfurt, Germany. I wasn’t packing, but scanners flagged me because of my chest (no top surgery, I bind for travel but I guess it wasn’t flat enough that time) and the agents asked me if I’d prefer English or German. I said English, because my German’s not equal to that situation, and they assumed this meant I understood no German. So the one guy who spoke English asked me if I were a man or a woman and I explained that I’m trans. He translated to his associate as “both” to which she laughed scornfully and said “there’s no such thing!” I pretended not to understand so I could just get through the indignity as quickly as possible, but it cemented my hatred for airport security theater.