Get Comfortable: TSA Invasion as a Model for Trans Experience
Lambda Legal's Haley Gorenberg and M. Dru Levasseur wrote a piece for the Huffington Post entitledTSA Screening Reveals Transgender People's Experiences for All of Us, in which they compare the invasive procedures of TSA with the daily disrespectful treatment of transgender people.
One of the hardest things right now about being out as a transgender person is triggering people's imagining your body. The discomfort of people focusing on your genitals, seeking to inspect them, compare what they are with what's "expected," see whether they are OK enough, or "right." The shifted gaze, to the chest, the crotch... Now everyone is having that experience. Could the TSA procedures also shift the mind to the everyday experiences of transgender people, whose genitals are "imaged" by acquaintances without apology?Read the entire article here.
I'm uncomfortable with admitting any benefit to something that I adamantly oppose, but if there is any benefit to the bullshit the TSA is pulling it might be that Americans will catch a glimpse of the invasions that transgender people must endure on a regular basis. True, trans people are often reduced to a mere set of body parts. I announce that I am trans as a statement of my history, experiences and personal perspective, but others read my statement as a declaration of biology and an invitation to envision what is under my clothing. As TSA procedures reduce us to not much more than a collection of body parts, will the American public take a stand and fight for body rights for all?It's a nice dream, but one I'm not holding out for. Unfortunately the public backlash against body scanners and groping searches includes arguments developed from a wide range of motivations. There are civil rights advocates who have been fighting the invasion of privacy for years; people with disabilities fighting for sensitivity, care and respect of our bodies; sexual abuse activists protecting survivors of sexual trauma; and, yes, trans advocates working to shield trans people from yet another public invasion of our anatomy.But some of the loudest backlash is from Tea Partiers and other right wing racists who encourage racial and ethnic profiling over scans and pat downs of their white, privileged selves. Quote Charles Krauthammer:
do you really think I'm a Nigerian nut job preparing for my 72-virgin orgy by blowing my johnson to kingdom come?
With a common goal but such different motivations, can we expect that the general public will seriously consider how transgender people experience the world? Unlikely. People are operating under the "bad for you, worse for me" mentality. When their immediate need is fulfilled their sensitivity to those still undergoing the injustice disappears. Put the pain somewhere else.Gorenberg and Levasseur's optimistic article provides readers with a pedagogical lens through which to view the increased screenings:
And ultimately, we invite using this shared moment to cultivate understanding and respect for the vastness of human diversity -- and to get comfortable with it.
Unfortunately it's likely trans people, who've had our privacy invaded consistently in all aspects of our life, will be the among first ones getting comfortable with TSA procedures.