Photos via Twitter/ (@angela_rye
Sharing her 'humiliating' experience, she said, "the officer hit me in the middle of my genitals."
Published: Sat 24 Dec 2016, 10:31 AM
Updated: Sun 25 Dec 2016, 3:50 PM
- By
- Curated by Nilanjana Gupta
A video of a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officer frisking a CNN commentator as she burst into tears is sending shock waves across the world.
Angela Rye, 37, took to Twitter to share a video that shows an aggressive TSA lifting her dress up and patting her genitals during a screening in Detroit Metropolitan Airport last week. She recorded the video "to send it to TSA to raise questions about the process and challenge the agency on whether these incidents of violation truly prevent terrorist attacks."
Rye tweeted, "I asked the police officer to film this so I can send to @TSA. I'm hoping my humiliation will fix the system. #TSAVaginaMonologues"
According to CNN, she had already gone through the metal detector and backscatter X-ray machine, and had both TSA PreCheck and was a CLEAR traveler, which allows you to skip the security line.
Sharing her 'humiliating' experience, Rye wrote in an op-ed for CNN, "The TSA agent told me to spread my legs. Interested to know why I needed to open my legs further than the yellow feet imprints, I inquired. What are the footprints there for, then? She insisted that my floor-length dress would stop flowing if my legs were spread that far apart. What happened next was unbelievable. The backscatter machine alerted to my right Uggs boot, three areas near my vagina and I think somewhere on my back. I didn't care about anything but one place on my body. I said in complete disbelief: "You know you aren't patting down my vagina, right? Like that's NOT happening." She insisted she had to unless her supervisor approved otherwise. I demanded to see the supervisor who insisted the TSA agent must pat down the area. I continued to ask in disbelief: What do you think is on it? In it? You are NOT patting down my vagina!"
Rye wrote: "Please just let me get the scan again. I do not want my vagina patted.' The TSA agent insisted that it was a 'backhanded pat around the upper thigh'.
The manager told her she would miss her flight to New York, if she did not go through the security protocol. Rye added, "The manager grew frustrated with me. I wanted to take a picture of the screen, on which appeared an image outline of my body -- with three overlaid yellow boxes between my legs," she added. The supervisor then called police to have her escorted out of the airport.
She wrote: "The pat-down began and was uneventful until she went down my leg, up my dress, and her hand sideways hits me right in the crack of my labia. Startled, I jump and feel a lump in my throat trying to hold back tears. What happened to the back handed pat-down? She comes around to the front; I grow nervous and pull back a bit, afraid of the same thing happening -- and her sideways hand hits in the middle of my genitals again. I can no longer hold back the tears."
"Perhaps it's time for the TSA to invest in new equipment. It is definitely time for them to keep their hands away from vaginas." Calling for a change in TSA practices, she wrote, "Of course, we want America to be safe and protected but we should not violate the emotional and physical safety of our nation's citizens at the same time."
nilanjana@khaleejtimes.com
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