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March 27th, 2008

Woman Made To Remove Nipple Piercings In Airport

Found via Poe News:
Woman claims airport security agents in L.A. forced her to remove nipple ring with pliers
“A woman said Thursday she was forced to remove a nipple ring with pliers in order to board an airplane in Texas, and demanded a civil rights investigation as well as an apology from federal security agents.”

(snip)

“Hamlin said she was trying to board a flight from Lubbock to Dallas on Feb. 24 when she was scanned by a Transportation Security Administration agent after passing through a larger metal detector without problems.

The female TSA agent used a handheld detector that beeped when it passed in front of Hamlin’s chest, the Dallas-area resident said.

Hamlin said she told the woman that she was wearing nipple piercings. The women then called over her male colleagues, one of whom said she would have to remove the body piercings, Hamlin claimed.”

(snip)

“Hamlin said she heard male TSA agents snickering as she took out the ring. She was scanned again and was allowed to board even though she still was wearing a belly button ring.”

I’m surprised the detector beeped. Both Mr. Radical and I have body piercings and have never had a metal detector go off. Mind you we’ve never been scanned by the handheld ones. I understand Hamlin’s difficulty. Piercings can sometimes be hard to take piercings out and can often be painful. And that’s just in a calm state. Being nervous and under the eyes of TSA agents must have made it ten times worse.

Posted by Vixen in News

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 27th, 2008 at 11:06 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the comments RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

4 Responses to “Woman Made To Remove Nipple Piercings In Airport”

  1. Naughty Girl says:

    I always worry about that too, though I have labia piercings and they usually think the ‘beep’ in the crotch area is from my zipper.

    I think she does have reason to sue due to her treatment.

    A lot of people have piercings of different kinds.


  2. Misty Kaye (Miss K) says:

    My piercings never set off the normal metal detectors, either, but I was recently wanded while passing through airport security and my nipple ring did make it beep. The security agent lightly patted my breasts (apologetically), though, and all was fine. This poor lady was treated unfairly.


  3. Dances With Books says:

    The suspicious cynic in me wonders if the guys just made her take them off to see if they could get a cheap thrill. I mean, let’s be honest: is is really common sense a nipple piercing is going to pose any sort of security threat? As you mention, it is not easy to remove them anyways, so it’s not like the person can use them for much of anything (as if). Again, what was that Benjamin Franklin said about those who give up freedom for a little security?

  4. Vixen says:

    NG-If she does sue maybe it’ll make TSA agents think twice before trying something like this again.

    MK-I was always told the type of metal in body piercings doesn’t set off the metal detectors. Maybe it’s different types of jewelry that sets off some wands?

    DWB-The cynic in me wondered the same thing.

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