I Can Totally See Why This Dad Was Peeved When A Creepoid TSA Agent Clothing Shamed His Daughter

On Sunday, Boing Boing’s co-founder Mark Frauenfelder received a text from his daughter who was traveling out of LAX with some of her classmates to visit colleges. His daughter, who is 15, was wearing a tank top covered up by a flannel shirt (and um, this is sort of the perfect traveling outfit, because we all know it can get chilly on airplanes and yet if his kid got hot she could always remove her over shirt) and a pair of leggings. Judging from the picture, his daughter looked perfectly appropriate. From Boing Boing:

Here’s what happened, as my daughter described it in text messages to us: she was at the station where the TSA checks IDs. She said the officer was “glaring” at her and mumbling. She said, “Excuse me?” and he said, “You’re only 15, COVER YOURSELF!” in a hostile tone. She said she was shaken up by his abusive manner.

 

And the thing is, it doesn’t matter if she looked “inappropriate” according to ANYONE, because an adult has no place clothing-shaming a girl that they didn’t give birth to, ever. I don’t care if Frauenfelder’s daughter was wearing a bikini or street lingerie or a freaking ball gown with a bag over her head, what she was wearing or not wearing was NONE of the TSA officer’s business. Their job is to insure the safety of passengers, not to criticize them over what they wear. This type of clothing shaming does nothing but perpetuate the belief that some people hold that a woman or a girl’s body does not belong to themselves. That it is open to the public to be shamed or criticized or allowed to be dictated to whatever someone else wants. It’s two steps away from the same logic that birthed the laughable belief that women deserve to be raped depending on what clothing choices they make. The good news is:

My wife and I met with the TSA at LAX and they are opening an investigation. The supervising officer we met with, Officer Murphy, was apologetic, concerned, and professional. He cc’d me on his incident report to his manager and it looks like they are taking this seriously, which is good to know.

I’m glad Mark and his wife are pissed about this and trying to get a resolution. Their daughter did not deserve to be shamed and insulted in this way. It was none of the TSA officer’s business, nor was it his place to say anything about what she was wearing. Our girls should never be subjected to this sort of thing whether it be by street harassment or by adults in positions of power.

(Image: Boing Boing)