Female Passengers Say TSA is Sexually Harassing with 'Peep Show' Scans
Female passengers claim they are being sexually harassed by TSA agents, after a Texas woman was repeatedly told to pass through a naked body screener.
Ellen Terrell was reportedly told to walk through a naked body scanner three times, so male TSA agents could check out her figure, according to Infowars.com.
Terrell was initially complemented on for her "cute figure" by a female TSA agent at DFW International Airport earlier this month. She was then told to go through a naked body scanner twice, while a TSA screener joked on the microphone.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
"Come on guys, alright, alright, one more time," a TSA agent said. She was forced to pass through the scanners again, saying that felt totally exposed. "They wanted a nice good look," Terrell said, according to CBS News.
The female TSA screener finally ended the ordeal after the third scan, ordering Terrell to come out of the screener. "Guys, it is not blurry, I'm letting her go. Come on out," the female screener said.
TSA has a policy to randomly select people for extra screening, but female passengers, like Terrell feel they being targeted to purposely undergo additional screening for the enjoyment of male TSA agents.
According to a CBS report, female passengers don't feel like their searches are random. Passengers like Ellen Terrell feel like the extra screenings are unnecessary and voyeuristic.
Texas State Representative Lon Burnam said that it's sexual harassment if a passenger is ran through the naked body scanner three or four times. "And this is not the first time I have heard about it," Burnam said.
Burnam indicates that several of his constituents have complained about privacy concerns. A CBS investigation found that there have many complaints from female passengers who were targeted for extra screening.
They complain about being asked to go through the "see-you-naked machine" and screeners enjoying picking people rather than true random screening. One woman complained that a screener went into a private room to see her naked body through the machine, while another was sure that only women were being asked to go through the naked body scanner.
The naked body scanner is supposed to show only a generic-body outline that highlights potential threats. However, the new technology has made female passengers feel violated.
"You just feel like your privacy has been violated," Terrell said.
In a statement, TSA said that they do not profile passengers and their updated technology has also upgraded privacy enhancements.
A spokesperson also said that it is not protocol to send passengers back into a scanner more than once, adding that any passengers with complaints can notify a TSA supervisor on location.
