Dr. Todd Drexel and Selena Drexel of Bowling Green, Kentucky are upset about the way a TSA agent patted down their six-year-old daughter at New Orleans Armstrong International Airport on April 5, 2011. The female agent intentionally touched the girl's butt, right breast, and inner thigh. The agent also stuck her fingers inside of the girl's pants at the waistband. According to the parents, the little girl was calm during the pat-down, but she broke down in tears afterward.
Of course, the girl broke down in tears. She just had her personal space violated by a stranger. Parents tell their children to not allow strangers to touch them in private areas of their bodies, but that is exactly what this TSA agent did. Not only did this agent upset this child by effectively molesting her, a precedent has been set in the girls mind that she may be touched by strangers under some circumstances.
People will argue that children get touched by their pediatricians on almost every visit, but this is different. The doctor's office is a secure, safe, and private place, and--most importantly--the child's pediatrician is not a stranger. The child understands it is okay to be touched by a known pediatrician in a doctor's office with a parent present. That is a very clear circumstance with well-defined boundaries and conditions.
Being fondled by some complete stranger in a crowded and chaotic public place (such as an airport) is an entirely different scenario. The boundaries are unclear, and the child may have a tremendous amount of trouble understanding why it might be okay to get fondled in public under some circumstances and not others.
The fact the TSA officers who are fondling these children are in uniform does not help much. All sorts of people own uniforms. To a child, a TSA agent is no different than the private security guard they might encounter in the bathrooms at the mall. Think about this through the mind of a small child: "If a uniformed authority figure can touch all over my body in a crowded airport, why should a uniformed authority figure not touch me in the mall bathroom?"
To an adult, the difference is obvious, but a child may not fully understand the difference. At the very least, a child who has already been felt-up by a TSA agent might be just a little more willing to be felt-up by someone else.
These horribly intrusive pat downs are technically child molestation, and they are conditioning children to passively accept being touched in their private areas by strangers. We should be ashamed of ourselves for allowing our Federal government to abuse and psychologically damage children in this way.
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