In my opinion, body scanners are an issue of very unethical design. They do not take into consideration all people of context; especially now that people are becoming more aware of different gender/sexual orientations, the TSA security’s official guidelines must adapt to this reality as well in the development of its products. Although I do continue to believe that it is a necessary and inevitable measure due to security concerns, it is something that must conform to new understandings of humanity as a whole.

 

Gender is defined to be on a spectrum, and therefore we cannot assume that all people can strictly define themselves as “male” or “female”. With the TSA body scanners’ division of all travelers into these two strict categories, it is an unfair lack of acknowledgment of people that are between this spectrum. Intersex people are those that are born with variations that do not fit the “typical definitions” of male or female gender bodies, hermaphrodites are one example and transgender people are just another. There are so many humans like this that experience a rude awakening when treated or categorized differently, even subconsciously, by security guards and the TSA screening system.

 

Because of this, I feel that the TSA screening system does not promote body scanners to consider all types of people when designating a gender to someone and having to pat them down if they do not explicitly conform to this defined standard. Therefore, I think that having someone of the “same gender” pat them down in an embarrassing manner is intrusive and not the way that airports should be handling this, especially for non-conforming individuals and those not defined as male or female on the spectrum.

 

I think the best method would be noting both the gender and sex of the traveler before being scanned by a machine; providing more options to designate people into categories would lessen the “abnormalities” that the machines show, leading to uncomfortable pat-downs of passengers. Furthermore, in being respectful of travelers, I think we should allow them to choose if a male or female should pat them down if it comes to that. Due to the spectrum that gender is on and the choice made by people of different sexes, they shouldn’t simply be assigned to an officer of the “same gender”, because that can be unidentifiable by just looking at someone and taking a wild guess. Because scanning is a security measure that should take place to ensure safety, TSA agents should carry it out in a more ethical manner for everyone.