BellaOnline Forums Beauty and Self Body Art Do nipple rings make you an air safety threat?

This week personal privacy and the TSA went head to head. After a few decades of body piercing moving more and more into the mainstream the government has decided they can't tell the difference between a nipple ring and a bra bomb.

The TSA Becomes Unreasonable About Piercings

Yea.. this case was totally unreasonable. I cannot believe they did that to her. i know how it can be to have problems with the rings and such... but damn.. what were they thinking. Getting their jollies off on her humiliation.

Yea, no kidding.

They don't have a problem with using a hand wand on people who have had surgery and have metal in their body, I know that for a fact, my Mother has stints in her heart. They were going to pass her through without the special identification card she has speaking on the subject.

I thought it terribly innapproproate. What are they going to do if someone has a peircing further south?

Hard to imagine being in her position. I would be in tears. What happens when an underwire bra causes a problem, and what excuse do they give for treating this differently?

As a family going through security, I have often been amazed when my children are pre-picked to be screened and scrutinized while suspicious looking adults walk through.

I guess its not a perfect system yet.

welcome to texas ya'll nothing says howdie like Show us your boobies!

God we're a$$ backwards here!

thats way I just drive! I can show my whatnots to whoever I want or no one if I want but its all on my terms!

i've been talking to my boyfriend about this. he's military, and i figured he might have some better "insight" or w/e.

i agree, taking out a nipple ring is like being asked to remove your bra. id call sexual harassment if some one asked me to take out body piercings in private areas in public like that.

my boyfriend pointed out one thing i can't disagree with though. if they can't see it, they will just assume that it is a weapon. thats why rings, necklaces, earings, and facial piercings slide so easy. just because they can see it. however, with a genital piercing.... thats really embarassing for a lot of people. even if its the same sex viewing it. i honestly don't know where to draw the line there.

yeah i just read the cnn article. the woman offered to show the nipple rings, and she was told she had to remove them and not her navel ring. thats [censored] up beyond belief especially after 4 MALE and 2 female tsa officers made a scene. its even worse that the male officers made a bigger scene and laughed about it.

id definitely demand to have my flight ticket paid back if they didnt let me on board the flight and go through some where else.

what if you called the airline and tell them they lost a customer because of tsa officials? and if not the airline, then maybe the airport? think it might make the airlines try to help change it?

money talks and the more you got the bigger your voice is but I think it would take a lot of people that fle regularly with lots of money and clout to make any real differents.

Here is my thing what if they had the rings in there pocket or purse or something could thy still take it on the plain? what is the differents between the ring being in the pocket or purse and the person wearing it? If you have an underwire bra on are they going to make you take that off for air port entertainment as well?

How many people with pacemakers and defiblaters have been put through this much of a scene? to me a pacemaker ordefiblater would set off alarms faster then tiny little rings... I mean its not like your nipple rings are as big or in the shape of dinemite! HELLO?!

But thats not true, I have seen plenty of times when someone goes through the xray machine and goes off, they empty their pockets etc. and then they wand them and call it good. What about people with metal INSIDE their body? They are satisfied with wanding them.
I think this was a couple of good ole boys getting their jollies.

The thing with airport security is they never seem to actually find anything that COULD be used in any way. They're so full of BS. I'm seriously getting anxious about flying to Seattle in June. Last year my husband had problems at the airport because the "rules" had changed and no new signs were posted. He and several other people from his flight were following the POSTED signs. They were then literally screamed at by airport personnel. They also went through his luggage (and several others') and just chucked stuff into a garbage bag because it was "over 3 ounces" or whatever. I think the reason I remember that was because the thing of his that they threw away was the correct amount, but they threw it away anyway.

Also, since when is it okay to just start throwing out people's belongings? Is this Nazi Germany?

I can't speak for rings in covered places but I have had other troubles with security. My travels can take me through Seattle, O'Hare, Vegas, Phoenix, Portland, or LAX. Often, in my experience, I find my home airport, Portland, to be the most restrictive. It is difficult because all airports do seem to have the flexibility to follow different rules.

To reduce stress, I just make sure I don't wear any jewelry (except for my wedding ring), take my shoes off even if it is not required, and make sure I'm not wearing any "wires" of any sort until after I reach my destination.

Also, if you are on a one way ticket, count on extra, extra security attention. They'll send you to the "extra attention" line. They don't consider that "normal", and will scrutinze you at baggage, at the gate, and maybe in the plane. Been there, not fun.

I've got another article up from a few years ago on Airports and Body Piercings where I talked about the one time I had to "prove" my piercings. I didn't find it inhumane and I didn't have to actually bare my breasts to anyone.

Why I think the airport screeners were at fault here is because the TSA has not had any official documented body piercing rules or regs prior to this debacle and if they can deal with people with surgical implants (hip pins, plates in skulls) a nipple ring should be a no-brainer.

i remember one time my family and i were flying down to florida. my dad forgot to take his keys out of his pocket. no biggie, right? he set off the metal detector, and pulled out his keys. the airport security guy took his keys and started looking through them. my dad collects bullets, and on his key chain he had a couple. just small .45 bullets. APS confiscated them. the bullets were dead shells, they had no gun powder in them. the bullet had a fuckin hole in it where the key chain was attached and welded on. i always thought that was absolutely retarded.

there was an article on yahoo.com yesterday that i didnt read. i just saw the title and it was something along the lines of celebrities and special treatment from airlines. and i was thinking.. what the [censored]... they cant bother a celebrity cas theyre rich? theyre not even wealthy! just rich. theyre human just like i am. you dont think [famous persons name here] will blow up the plane, but you think i will?

[edit] i just remembered one time i went through security at six flags great adventure with my senior class last year. on my wallet, i carry a 30" long chain thicker than your normal dog chain/leash. the guy told me i had to remove it because it is considered a weapon. he completely skipped over my keys, which had 6 or 7 of those lanyard things... you knwo what im talking about, the 1/2" wide ones you get from school and for what ever you support. i consider my keys a greater weapon than my wallet chain, because the lanyards on top of the trinkets and [censored] on my keys were suprisinly heavier. he also gave me a LOT more [censored] about my pants, which were fuckin hottopic tripp bondage pants and had straps hanging all over the place (not even metal ones, just the cloth ones). i swear they hire the most retarded people to do security.

It's strange. I've had nipple rings for over six years. I've flown to and from the Washington DC area several times a year. I've entered and went through security at many government buildings (including the White House), and not once have I ever been stopped by security because of my jewelry. I wonder what it was about this woman that set off the metal detectors?

Owl, if you read the article, she was picked for special screening and the hand wands are what can detect body piercings.

Oh yeah, I've been wanded. Nothing happened.

I find it funny that since 9-11 the public is all suspect but it was the pololits that hi jacked the planes not passangers. what good does it do to screen the passangers when you cant even screen the people that drive the plane any better then that? I know they have stricter regulations and all but...

to me this is like having security alarms and bars on your house windows and all that junk. You become a prisoner in your own home. we have become prisoners in our own country! we half live in fear of some nameless faceless terorist and we also hate the hassel of flying anywhere so we dont. with the price of gas so high we cant afford to drive a long way so we stay home. anyone else feel trapped but this? or is it just me?

Freespirit,
The hijackers on 9/11 were passengers, not pilots. They had learned how to fly so that they would be able to take over after they had overpowered the airliner's real pilots.

I have noticed huge differences in how the security is handled in different airports. Sometimes I am searched, sometimes nobody is. That nipple ring fiasco seemed more like fun and games for the staff than any sort of real threat management.

funny thing about those passengers. werent they trained by our own military to learn how to fly?

My memory is that they were trained in regular flying schools, not the military.

thats what I mean we trained them how to fly the planes. millitary or not if we cant sceen the people we teach how to fly then what good does it do to sceen passangers? I have noticed that in the airport that i have been in if you are a plolet people TSA doesnt give you a second glance and you dont have to go through the medal detectors or anything. so we train the poliots then they get hired then they can pretty much buy a ticket or ride for free and hi jack another plane. the same thing goes for any plublic transportation. subways, bus, am track, train.... whatever. if you work at a place and you have the right badge to flash then you get waved through no questions asked.
So going back to the topic. How is making people with nipple or other prieceing show them or take them out really going to make us as passangers feel more safe and sound when it was poliots that hi jacked the plane so it is possible that they just showed there badges or plilots license and got waved through?

lets say the person takes out there rings and puts then in there purse or pocket and goes through the medal detectors like everyone else can they put them back in when they get on the plane? can they carry the rings with them and if they can carry them on the plane then what is the big differents between wearing them and carring them? see it Just does not make since!

but if you watch the news on this here in tx they make it sound like it is a high sercurity ricked and we should all band together and support the show your boobs to everyone before boarding law!!! At the Amarillo airport, they have band hairspray deoderent, nail files and clippers, kniting and crochet hooks (I think the yarn would be a bigger threat who knows grandpa might [censored] off granny and she shoves the ball down his throat or hanges him with it!) sissors, (ok so I could see the big sissors but come on the tiny little sissors most of us carry to cut our yarn could not do much even if you stabed someone and up the whole thing into someone it would barly reach an inch and they have a round tip so...) to me a bra with a wire would pose more of a threat then a ring or my crochet hook!

there is a point where security become hysteria!

What I want to know is why only nipple rings are a "threat?" The woman who was mistreated so badly also had a navel piercing and no one seemed to think that was a problem at all and she was allowed to leave that ring in place.

Given that my own nipple and navel piercings are essentially the same size jewelry, and that I have much more massive earrings, I'm really hoping that the TSA is forced to explain the perceived threat. Especially as they've now made such an issue about nipples.

yeah but i think they were trained on a military base or atleast by military personel. i forget.

i dont know if every one has this problem. i know i have it with even my ears. taking out a piercing, even after its been 100% healed after a couple years, it WILL start to close up immediately. and they are a total [censored] to get back in. I've heard nipple rings can be especially painful to reinsert and repierce if the hole closes all the way.

its even worse if its a newer piercing and youre not supposed to take the jewlery out yet.

oh and as for screening people? hell they fail to do that in penitentiaries. i heard a story once where an inmate who was abused by the guards convinced his girlfriend to get a job in the place. they didnt screen her, then hired her, and she got all the names of the guards who abused him and all of their info. addresses, numbers, family names, etc. the inmate threatened to go after the guards families when he got out unless they retired. all the guards who abused him proceeded to retire.

the prison here in town is so short handed I think they would hire the inmates to watch the other inmates if they could get away with it!

I agree Rae! if nipple rings are a threat then all jewelry should be band. Most people use the same kind of rings in there nipples as they would in an eyebrow, naval, or else where so if it is the ring that is so offencive and not the placement of it then just having the ring in your purse or pocket or in a hole in your body would be just as dangerous! it is because they cant see what it is then every woman with a wire underwire bra should have to take her bra off to board the plane. I under stand the medical pins, pacemakers....whatever but most people who have those have a thing from there dr saying so...well if it was placed resently anyways... those cant be removed at will so....
but the day I see someone hi jack a plane with a nipple ring or any other ring is the day I lose all faith in the USA and move to Scotland!

Just a point of info to set things straight:
The 9/11 hijackers were NOT pilots of any sort. They DID attend PRIVATE schools to learn to fly however they did not complete the courses, they took on just enough training to know how to handle the planes after someone else put them in the air. In short they had no credentials of any kind.

With that said, we are experiencing an epidemic, nation wide, of security people who are over impressed with themselves, are under-trained, and lack proper oversight. In any other position they would be jailed over the abuse of power and violations of civil rights they perform. As a federal LEO, I have been involved in limited prosecution of more than a few of these jack booted thugs. Unfortunately their arrests are the responsibility of the local, county and state agencies who are ignorent of their duties in this matter.

It is up to each and every one of you to take this matter to your Senators and Congress-persons, enmasse, and make them take this matter to task. Until that happens, the problem will grow as the few of us that are assigned to protect the people from such abuses are just a token handful, and are simply incapable of handling this substantial problem. We NEED proper natioal level training of these people so that there is uniformity to ensure protection of the people, both from terrorists as well as power mad fools.

Be serious and straight to the point in your contact with your elected officials. Don't speculate or guess, Just state the facts. If you can take the time to comment here, you can do the same with your elected officials. And remember one thing, it may be antiquated in word, but the fact is if you aren't part of the solution, you ARE part of the problem.

Freespirit,

Most prisons do have inmates watching over other inmates, especially in the south. They are called "Trustees". It's a scary thought, isn't it? I could tell you numerous stories and personal experiences involving these prisons, but I'm afraid you really would move to Scotland then!

ehhehe yea that one is really imbarasing, and im agree of it! but you should put in your mind that you had a metals in your body, much better to take it off before go wanding or in x-ray!.. or if you had a fracture and has a metal in it much better if you tell them first!.. anyway! why should you gurl put an earing in your nipples! is it cool!? your just hurting your self! earings is for the ears no in somewhere else.. sorry to say this but i really dont like these kind of fashion.

______________________

elsphit

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no no no and no.... music-love931, you dont put earings in body piercings.. earings (studs you buy from the store) are usually made of cheap metals like sterling silver (which is only coated) and gold (which is usually a mixed metal). there are specific peices of jewelry for specific parts of the body in which you pierce. and its not us hurting ourselves... hundreds of people get body mods as a way of expression, or they do it for spiritual reasons, or sexual reasons, or just to make themselves appear more beautiful to themself.

and i dont know about you, but id be damned before i take any of my piercings out to get on a plane. its harassment to ask some one to do so. its hard enough taking the ones out of my ears because my dentist needed an x-ray. i almost said no.

and yes some people will put CBR's in their nipples because they think it's kool. some will do it because its the new "trend" among teens. but those who are seriously into it, may not see it as a fashion or trend at all. some even see it as a lifestyle.

i spent thursday last week grossing my bf's friends out because they don't know the extent of body art. i was surfing bmezine.com and i almost got a girl to throw up when she saw a picture of a guy who cut off his nose. in the interview, he was asked why he did it. he just said that it feels natural to him to have a flat face.

oh and music_love, never say sorry for not liking something. it is within your rights to dislike it.

I was interviewed for an article that's now up on MSNBC about the whole TSA/nipple ring situation.

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The whole idea makes me grin. I wonder if my 'down there' piercing would do that? Mmm.... now THAT would be more embarrassing.

One of the stupidest things, Carissa, is that the TSA doesn't seem to care about any piercings except nipples. And they haven't ever adequately explained why.

Nobody is forced to travel by plane! Unless you are an animal, a child, a baby or someone so sick you are taken to an airport without being able to give your consent you are not a victim and it is all your fault! Everybody knows what is going on in airports and still they continue to go there and we all pay for it even people like me who have not gone in an airport since it all started!