Unfortunately, as a result of events from the past, specifically the attack on the World Trade Center, our country needs to have very strict guidelines to ensure the safety of travelers. I believe that this is an important that the Transportation Security Administration should take the precautions necessary to ensure all of our safety, even if that means being overcautious at times. However, I do not believe that individuals should be degraded or harassed while attempting to travel. As an organization that must interact with people every single day, the TSA must find a way to become better at acting accordingly to specific situations involving individuals that may have non-binary gender identities.

The design of the devices and systems used by the TSA are incredibly unethical and clearly encompass the thoughts and ideas of people that do not have to cope with the stressful and potentially traumatic experiences non-binary gender discrimination, a theory presented in the article “Ethics in Design.” While designing airport security systems, as well an any other type of security system, a diverse group of people, including different ages, races, ethnicities, genders, etc., need to be consulted and have their concerns considered to avoid the possibility of discrimination or affliction. Systems such as the one that requires TSA agents to press a button identifying an individual’s gender before they pass through a scanner are extremely outdated and poorly aimed towards modern society. Especially if the passenger is butch or transgender, then it forces TSA agents to make an assumption that could subsequently cause the scanners to make another false assumption simple based on the clothing that the passenger is wearing. This doesn’t contribute to, or counteract, safety precautions and I think it is ridiculous because all it is doing is making someone feel uncomfortable in their own skin. That just isn’t fair.  

It seems as though the TSA has become pretty numb to the fact that they are dealing with people, and they are just moving through the motions of their job. I do not believe, however, that the humanity of individuals should be completely disregarded in the process of ensuring safety. In my opinion, the TSA needs to reevaluate their systems and redesign them so that passengers are treated as human beings, and are not being forced to conform to a specific gender. In addition to this, I think the TSA should also look into retraining their agents and specifically focus on physical examinations, such as patting people down, to avoid touching individuals in areas they do not want to be touched. I realize that this would require a large amount of time and money and it is unlikely that the government would want to allocate the necessary resources for these renovations, but if completed, the emotional stability of passengers across the world would be greatly benefitted.