TSA Forces Woman To Remove Nipple Rings

[Kadie]

Mar 27, 2008 10:47 am US/Pacific

TSA Forces Woman To Remove Nipple Rings


LOS ANGELES (CBS) ― A woman was forced by the Transportation Security Administration to remove her nipple rings before she was allowed to board a flight, a local attorney said on Thursday.

"The woman was given a pair of pliers in order to remove the rings in her nipples," said Los Angeles attorney Gloria Allred. "The rings had been in her nipples for many years."

Allred and the woman planned to hold an early-afternoon news conference in Los Angeles to explain what they plan to do "to ensure that no other person is forced to suffer" the same fate, the attorney said in a statement.

The Transportation Security Administration does not have a specific policy addressing nipple rings or any other jewelry, said TSA spokesman Dwayne Baird. Baird said he did not know of the incident Allred mentioned in her statement.

"I'd be really curious to know what this woman had in her nipples," Baird said. "Sometimes they have a chain between their nipples, or a chain between their nipples and their belly button. It would have to be made of heavy metal to be detected."

more...
http://cbs13.com/national/tsa.nipple.rings.2.686236.html





:hide:

[HCE SuiGeneris]

1. TSA -- Tyranny Squad of Amurika

[Ellen Forradalom]

2. Please tell me this is from The Onion

x(

[Kadie]

26. CBS News

I thought it had to be The Onion first time I read it too.

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. This is not just the PR nightmare... folks the Germans did this

regularly

No, not the nipple rings, but how to spread fear

[lpbk2713]

4. Did TSA have any idea where those pliers had been? Probably not.

Seriously. If the lady develops an infection there could be a lot of money changing hands here.

[havocmom]

9. Tie that with increased problems with plane maintence...

Are they swiping mechanics' tools to harass women? No wonder the fleets are in such bad shape ;)

[VP505]

5. Must have been exploding nipple rings.

OMG, good thing they discovered them before boarding that flight, no telling how many would have been killed if they hadn't.:sarcasm: :nuke:

[havocmom]

6. My mom got serious scanning years ago, due to parts from her knee replacement

She was a box of 'cremated human remains' at the time, and it was well before 9-11-01.

Put 'mom' through the scanner for carry on bags (cuz, hey, you don't check yo momma) and some of the hardware that held her metal knee to bones was oddly annoying to the security people. They wanted to open the box to inspect. I asked them if they were really insistent on doing that. They were, until they saw that seal from the mortuary.

But, it makes one wonder, how many people with various metal implants get shit from TSA, or only women with interesting jewelry?

My bust daughter gets pulled out of the line often for extra scanning and screening. Her jewelry is only earrings and a necklace she always removes and put on the conveyor for scanning. I can't help but conclude that some TSA employees are creeps who don't get enough TLC in real life.

[That Guy 888]

10. Your last sentence was my first thought when I saw the post subject.

[Crunchy Frog]

13. I've heard an interesting story about an IUD.

[havocmom]

15. I bet there are a lot of those stories

[pitohui]

19. i know a lot of people with implants who have had problems

you can bring a note from your surgeon to explain the implants but, at the end of the day, anyone can make a note that says anything at home on their computer, so the TSA will still give the person with the implant extra screening

the only real option is patience and leaving time for the extra screening at every airport

it isn't any better in europe and honestly it is quite likely to be worse at some airports where they are real bears for aggressive screening, FRA maybe you just have to allow lots of time

jewelry is something i remove at home, unless it's gold (REAL 18 kt gold should not set off a correctly set x-ray, and this i was told by the TSA which is why i started leaving in the gold and so far it works okay), after going in screening, i can put the jewelry back on

not sure of the purpose of wearing nipple rings thru airport security, it's like she wanted to create a nuisance, take them out at home, after passing thru security, visit the lady's room and put them back in, where exactly is the problem? the passenger has to take some responsibility for this, she knew she had metal in her nipples when she headed off to the airport

[Wizard777]

7. Are they nutz?

How could they be sure the nipple rings were the lynch pin on grenade like booby bombs?

:silly: :rofl:

[mikelgb]

8. damn. what about the guy with the prince albert?

[dbackjon]

16. Damn - you stole my question!!

[Chovexani]

25. My ex had one.

As well as an amphallang. Whenever we would fly, he'd get wanded like whoa, and then when his crotch area went off we'd usually have to explain. :P

Aside from some giggling and tittering from the female TSA agents (always directed at me, oddly :P) and male ones reflexively grabbing their own junk, we never had problems.

[Crunchy Frog]

11. She's a James Bond villian, and can do diabolical things with those nipple rings.

:evilgrin:

[mikelgb]

18. fembot

[Sabriel]

27. She could put someone's eye out with those things

Kind of like the pointy bras in the old Trek shows.

[DefenseLawyer]

12. I flew a lot in the months after 9/11

Remember when they had that second "random" search of people right when you boarded the plane? (Which they have since dropped, since it was a huge waste, given that everyone there had already been searched). It was a bit humorous to watch who was chosen at "random" for those searches. I would say 8 out of 10 times it would always be the most attractive woman in the line. I remember my colleagues and I would try to guess who was going to get pulled out of line, the smart money was always on pretty young women.

[theredpen]

17. I was doing a weekly air commute for a while...

After a while, I had clothes at home and at my remote site, so I packed light. I would just take my laptop and a few items, either in a bag or a backpack.

If I had the bag, I wouldn't be searched. If I had a backpack, I would be searched. Every time.

[pitohui]

20. actually 8 out of 10 times it was my poor husband picked for those "random" searches

i guarantee he was not the most attractive woman in the line :-)

[DefenseLawyer]

23. Well it wasn't a scientific study

but that's how it was generally at the airports I frequented.

[Bucky]

14. Are we certain this wasn't about the "no liquid containers" policy?

[Dr. Strange]

21. So, uh, she has to empty them then?

[Wizard777]

22. This is utterly ridiculous!

[annabanana]

28. No, it's UDDERLY ridiculous , ,

sorry.. I couldn't help myself...

[Chovexani]

24. That's fucking ridiculous

I know tons of people with nipple rings, male and female, who have gone through airport security and have never had to take them out. They'll usually get wanded thoroughly and with a brief explanation they get sent on their way.

My ex-boyfriend had literally every piercing possible for a male below the neck (yes, including several genital ones), and while flying with him was inconvenient, he was never asked to take anything out. Sounds to me like a bunch of TSA assholes wanted a show from this poor woman or were drunk on power.