Many Women Say Airport Pat-Downs Are a Humiliation
here's a fun little scenario. religious woman goes to fly, is stopped either because she's been randomly asisgned or because she set off the metal detector. guy starts to search her. (ignoring negiah issues right now.) he asks her to remove her shirt. he runs his fingers under her bra straps. he looks down her skirt. he, of course, must look under her hat, tichel, or sheitel.
you have the right to ask for two things:
1. you can be searched in private
2. a female agent to search you (although in my experience, they are never around)
you probably dont want to travel wearing a sheitel as they will get beligerent about your wearing fake hair (obviously a huge terror threat).
you also have the right to file a complaint and should do so if you feel anything inappropriate happened.
additionally, ify ou need to get your license renewed and need to have your hair covered, speak to your local rabbi about what you can do and whether there are waivers in your statre re: hair covering in official IDs for religious reasons.
1. 'A visitor' posted on the Tue 23 Nov 2004, 7:54 pm
ReplyDeletei have friends who have been asked to remove their hats when going through metal detectors in airports - if you wear a sheitel - they usually do not notice; also, in NY (i don't know about other states), you can wear a head covering for a license photo as long as it does not come down on your forehead - they never gave me any problems
leeby
2. 'Dani Weiss' posted on the Wed 24 Nov 2004, 11:05 am
ReplyDeletemy friend went to get her license and they yanked her tichel back off her head so you can't see it at all in the picture, ie, they uncovered her whole head. she argued with them, but they didn't care. granted, this was in manhattan...
i haven't gone for a NY state license yet because i want to make sure taht they can not do that to me.