Muslim Women Allowed to Pat Themselves?

Because my hair is apparently the next big terrorist threat according to TSA, I’m curious as to why I was not allowed to pat down my hair and have a chemical swipe of my hands instead of having the girls groped. Muslim women are apparently given this option, but I was instructed to stand their while being felt up by an old woman without being given a choice.

According to CAIR, here are some guidelines on options muslim women are given when dealing with TSA:

  • Before you are patted down, you should remind the TSA officer that they are only supposed to pat down the area in question, in this scenario, your head and neck. They SHOULD NOT subject you to a full-body or partial-body pat-down.

To some degree, this was the case in my situation. I didn’t have anyone’s hands roaming down my legs, but the front of my chest was felt up while I had absolutely no hair hanging down in front of my shoulders. If my hair set it off, only my back should have been groped.

  • Instead of the pat-down, you can always request to pat down your own scarf, including head and neck area, and have the officers perform a chemical swipe of your hands.

I was never given this option at all. And considering I wasn’t wearing a scarf, a swipe of my hands would have been far more likely to turn up any problematic substances. Why is my hair treated differently because I don’t have a religious scarf, even though the same issues may be the cause of secondary screening?

Is the only way to avoid a TSA-groping to dress like a muslim woman? If so, anyone know where I can get a long, stylish scarf?

10 thoughts on “Muslim Women Allowed to Pat Themselves?”

  1. I think you’ve hit upon a solution…

    I now have an idea for a new career. I am going to open a shop up in a busy airport and sell cheap Hijabs for non-muslim Americas.

    Think about it, if 50 of us all got in line wearing them and raised a fuss. It might be the straw that broke the TSA’s back. It would make it look like the buffoon it is.

  2. Or you could just sue them for violation of your rights to equal protection of the law under the 5th Amendment as they are a Federal agency.

    I know a great civil rights lawyer but he tends to be a little busy right now with 2nd Amendment cases.

  3. Why don’t we just admit that this war against terrorism is over and we’ve lost. Someone call Osama Bin Laden and tell him that he’s won. We can have a big parade and welcome our conqueror to Manhattan. We’ll all convert to Islam, adopt sharia as the law of the land and then we won’t have to go through full body scans or groin pat downs. Just think what this means no more TSA, no more Patriot Act, and no troops in Iraq nor Afghanistan. Sure some parts of out population might bridle under the new rules but surely their displeasure couldn’t be greater than what all of us are undergoing right now.

  4. I if the Sikhs get any allowances? I’d grow my hair out and stop shaving if it meant I could have a belt knife.

  5. Why don’t we just admit that this war against terrorism is over and we’ve lost.

    I know. I’d type more, but I have to go decapitate myself on camera and send the video to Al Jazeera.

  6. Of course this means that muslim women are about to be recruited in the war on humanity as bomb carriers. It is the only possible result of allowing the suspects to “search” themselves.

  7. Sorry to add this as a separate comment, but from now until the law applies to everyone equally, any non-muslim woman who doesn’t wear a hijab or burkah to the airport is asking for unreasonable delays passing through security.

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