Comments on: Airport Security: Now With More Assweasels!

By: Skada

Skada — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 16:17:17 +0000

I know I’m resurrecting a semi-old thread, but I wanted to add my two cents.

First, what that (former) employee did to her is terrible and I’m so glad he doesn’t work there anymore.

Second, @MadrasSoup — I can see how some people might feel like size plays into things, and I can see how studies can support some of this. *However* — I am about six feet tall, and biologically a woman, and my height has not helped protect me. I have never been described as “intimidating” or had my size spare me from abuse.

It’s incredibly frustrating for people to automatically assume because I am tall (or because I weigh more than the average person), that I get bullied less or that I am less likely to be picked on or intimidated.

My ex-husband was 5’8″ and over a hundred pounds smaller than me and he beat the sh*t out of me for months. No one would believe me at first because I’m taller and heavier; people assumed I was making it up or that it logically/physically could not happen. And the ex-boyfriend who tried to rape me (after a year of living together) was my height and much lighter than me.

And in elementary school, I was ruthlessly harassed, teased, shoved, stalked, etc. by fellow students, even though I was the tallest in the class, on the playground, etc., even at that age.

So let me testify — as a taller, heavier woman, I can be *Just As Intimidated/Threatened* by others (especially males) as a smaller, petite woman can. And when people say otherwise, they invalidate my experiences and the experiences of others.

Just as it is frustrating for people to ignore how a smaller woman could feel extra threatened because of her size, likewise it is frustrating for people to ignore how a bigger woman can still be just as harassed/threatened, despite her size.

By: Clare K. R. Miller

Clare K. R. Miller — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 21:51:50 +0000

Cat, I’m pretty sure that parking on the shoulder thing is actually illegal–there are definitely signs saying not to do it. But yeah, you’re only allowed to stop your car in the airport itself if you’re loading or unloading. If you’re waiting, you just have to circle. They just put in a new “cell phone lot” where you can wait, though, so maybe it’ll be a little better. Actually, I guess I’m going to find out tomorrow when I go to pick up my parents and grandmother!

How sad is it that as soon as I read the question “Where did you get it?” I thought it was a “joke”? I didn’t want to believe it. I’m just so horrified. Yeah, I’ve encountered plenty of men like that. Maybe that explains why I never leave the house if I don’t have to. Oh, and I’m five feet even.

By: Ocean_breeze

Ocean_breeze — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 01:22:59 +0000

I fully agree with the height and size comments. I am five seven with no shoes and when I go out I try to wear deco-platform 70′s shoes if I’m in a bar or pub. It puts off the assholes I tend to beacon in when I’m wearing my nice comfy shoes. I am past skinny, to the point of scrawny and I have actually been pitched across a bar before by a man who was wasted that I didn’t know and apparently he had a bet running with some friends as to how far he could whip me across the bar (all in fun for him of course.)

I have found that when I’m taller and can look down into their faces they don’t seem to like it very much and leave me alone.

By: Tall-in-Heels

Tall-in-Heels — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 21:14:02 +0000

Regarding the size issue, I also think it matters. One of my besties is short and petite, and she’s learned to emphasize the hard-ass aspect of her personality, especially in the corporate world, because otherwise men have a tendency to treat her like a child (until she rips them a new asshole, that is). I am several inches taller than the average American male even without heels. I’m not a hard-ass, but I am routinely described as “intimidating” by men. This is just one example, but I’ve seen this dynamic play out time and again.

By: Cat

Cat — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 19:05:24 +0000

The Philly airport security folk are douchebags of the highest order. They make people wait on the shoulder of the highway since they don’t allow cars to idle around on airport grounds to wait to pick up their loved ones (so what if someone had an accident/a flat/ran out of gas in the same area? Assholes.) and when I had to fly out of there a little over a year ago after I’d gone through hell to get a replacement ticket after my flight home from college had been cancelled in Newark the day before, they wanded me for no particular reason whatsoever and inspected all my stuff—and mercifully, they didn’t make fun of me for having my childhood stuffed rabbit with me, although I fully expected them too.

So even though this is an utterly appalling thing to hear about, I’m honestly not that surprised that the guards at that airport would do that.

By: Av0gadro

Av0gadro — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 16:24:22 +0000

MadrasSoup, in my experience, my very tall friends get way more obnoxious random comments than I do, but nobody every harasses them in a threatening way or gets in their face. When I’m street harassed (I’m 5’2″ in shoes), I get much more invasion of personal space, much more looming, and much more borderline-threatening comments.

By: sarah.of.a.lesser.god

sarah.of.a.lesser.god — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 15:42:08 +0000

This makes me want to smuggle one of my dogs into my coat so that they’ll take out any asshole who attempts this shit. I’m also glad I took my two flights this month BEFORE reading this. It’s really unconscionable.

By: thatbrowngirl

thatbrowngirl — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 15:36:20 +0000

This sounds awful. That poor girl! Good for her for reporting it. It makes me feel lucky that the worst I’ve gotten is being repeatedly questioned about the contents of my carry-on and it being searched before they realized the problem was a jar of peanut butter.

By: Jen Anderson

Jen Anderson — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 15:24:51 +0000

@MadrasSoup It all folds into the whole women must constantly diet to be as SMALL as possible thing. The smaller we are the more easily mistreated and ignored we are.

Bullies only bully people smaller than they are.

By: Jen Anderson

Jen Anderson — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 15:22:11 +0000

All he did was lose his job?! If a non-TSA employee made a joke about someone carrying explosives, etc. they’d be arrested.

Good for her for reporting him. She probably wasn’t the first person who he did it too, but she was the first who complained. I wouldn’t have had the guts to stand up for myself like that at 22 and I wonder if she would have if that woman hadn’t comforted her and talked to her afterwards.