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by goosman_Archive
I've probably mentioned before that my wife flies all the time for work, so she encounters these machines all the time. She and I made a decision to not go through these for health reasons (she flies a lot more than I do, but I still fly a fair amount) and so we've "opted out" each time. The first time, they made it into a big loud deal "HEY! OPT OUT! OPT OUT! FEMALE AND MALE ASSIST NEEDED! WE'VE GOT AN OPT OUT!!!" and then it took a bit for the folks to show up and touch our junk. (which never happened, much to my disappointment) After that first time, it's been a lot lower key. They just pull us aside and do the pat down, and there has been another flier or two waiting with us, so it's not just us not wanting these. Oh, and my wife has observed that it's an inordinate number of women who are asked to go through these naked xray machines. Men seem to get the pass.So, my take is this: if you really aren't confortable with the x-rays, the extra pat down isn't all that invasive. I still think it's bullshit security theatre...