Tuesday, September 09, 2008
BRASSIERE DOSSIER
Even though the following two incidents did not occur here in Manila, local women especially those who often travel abroad, including those who hang their laundry outdoors to dry may find these news bits interesting:
A large-breasted woman flying from Oakland to Boston was accosted by the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) agents when the underwire in her bra set off the magnetometer.
She ended up in a standoff with TSA officials over her bra and left with a choice: allow her breasts to be fondled or give up on flying. Instead, she raised a stink.
Kates asked to see a supervisor and then the supervisor's supervisor. She was told that underwire bras were the leading item that set off the metal detectors. However, she argued that the equipment must be overly sensitive. And if the TSA is engaging in extra brassiere scrutiny, then other women are suffering similar humiliation, Kates thought.
The Constitution bars unreasonable searches and seizures, Kates reminded the TSA supervisor, and scrutinizing a woman's brassiere is surely unreasonable, she said.
The supervisor stood firm on the choice offered to Kates: submit to a pat-down in a private room or not fly at all. Kates could only offer a third alternative, to take off her bra and try again, which the TSA supervisor accepted.
Arbitrary, no-exceptions "security" rules unduly punish innocents -- people with surgical pins in their bodies are now subject to discriminatory treatment when they fly, as are those whose names are similar to aliases used by suspected terrorists, and they're now joined by women with large breasts.
Read complete article here.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic, Abbie Hawkins, 19, got dressed at 7:30 one morning and arrived for work at the Holiday Inn Norwich North, near the international airport without noticing that a baby bat was hiding inside the bra she was wearing.
She felt only a slight vibration when driving to work. "I thought it was just my mobile phone in my jacket pocket," she said.
It was not until her lunch break, at midday when she felt a more noticeable, strange movement inside her bra, which had been hanging on her washing line the previous night.
She plucked up the courage to investigate and pulled out a little baby bat which was tucked away in the padded pocket of her underwear. "I just lost my breath when I saw it and I did not know what it was at first. I keep thinking how could I have not known it was there?" Miss Hawkins said. "I will certainly be checking my bras every morning from now on."
The teenager's general manager freed the bat in the hotel garden.
Read entire story here.
I very much appreciate my articles and photos appearing on fellow bloggers' sites, popular broadsheets, and local broadcast news segments, but I would appreciate even more a request for permission first.
Thank you!
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Labels: current affairs
posted by Señor Enrique at 7:59 AM
22 Comments:
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said... whoa eric, this is absolutely hilarious!
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said...
This airport security check is getting to be too ridiculous - underwire in a bra, surgical pins in the body, shoes, vials of medicine or liquid, small pen knives, etc., etc. - where is this going to stop. I'd rather take my chance of being blown away by a terrorist's bomb in the air than be subjected to the humiliating searches of my personal belongings and my body.
There is just no way you can protect the public from a determined, suicidal bomber who is capable of striking anywhere without severely curtailing the its freedom. Personally, I'd rather die with my freedom than live without it.-
said...
The story about the baby bat is absolutely wicked and bizarre. :)
Lucky baby bat. hahahhaa...-
JayAshKal said... I love the picture. I hope you did not have to wear it to get that wonderful angle... just kidding!
On the radio this morning, bras and undies are the topic as well. What a coincidence... some weirdo burgling the place and just collecting women's underwear.
What about 100ml or less liquid that you can take on board the plane? Plus how you will notice that baggage entitlements are getting lesser and lesser (to save petrol) but the price of flying getting more and more expensive. The last straw is the hassle at the airport, customs, etc. Bring back the steam ships!
Mario-
Señor Enrique said...
Thank God men's underwear don't have padded pockets, Caryn .... hehehe
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nutart said...
first, para you'll consider me lady--I'll say (blushingly) "let's change the subject (heehee!)
But then out comes the real me---I really do not understand why some women go for push-up bras. They're hell to wear! Once a guest left her nice and expensive push-up bra, I decided to dissect it. The metal wiring is really so strong that I decided to make a mobile out of it. I hung a lot of T'boli bells and all sort of odd objects and the metals still held their forms---amazing!
Some women have really big boobs(!) that not even a baby bat is noticed---another one for the Guiness Book of World Records! hahaha! I wonder if she still sees the other lower half of her body...;-).-
Señor Enrique said...
Outrageous indeed, bertN!
How about the Department of Homeland Security routinely searching laptops at airports when Americans re-enter the US from abroad?
Check out the following from a NY TImes editorial asking Congress to put a stop on this practice by Homeland Security:
quote
There have been widespread reports of the government searching — and often seizing — laptops, BlackBerrys, iPhones and other portable electronic devices at airports. It is not clear how often these searches occur, and the government will not say. The Association of Corporate Travel Executives says that of 100 people who responded to a survey it conducted this year, 7 said they had had a laptop or other electronic device seized.
...
Laptop owners rightly complain that the program violates the Fourth Amendment ban on unreasonable searches and seizures. Their legal objections, however, have not fared well. In April, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco upheld a laptop search at Los Angeles International Airport. After this disappointing decision, Congress needs to act.
unquote
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/10/opinion/10thu3.html?_r=2&ref=opinion&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
Aren't they getting a little over the top with paranoia?-
Señor Enrique said...
That girl was lucky, El Cineasta, that the bat didn't help itself to some breast-feeding while snuggled in that padded pocket ... hehehe.
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Señor Enrique said...
I took about fifty or so shots and in various angles of this bra hanging on a laundry line, Mario, and decided on this one :)
Air travel basically lost its glamor with the coming of the 747s. I don't enjoy flying all that much :(-
Señor Enrique said...
"The metal wiring is really so strong that I decided to make a mobile out of it. I hung a lot of T'boli bells and all sort of odd objects and the metals still held their forms---amazing!
"
LOL!
A couple of women I know back in New York opted for breast reduction, Bernadette, because of the back pains they got from being so well-endowed ... hehehe.-
Amadeo said...
Credit, or blame, the late Howard Hughes for making those underwire bras a reality. To highlight the prodigious physical attributes of Jane Russell for that infamous western movie, Hughes came up with his invention. And as we have seen the rest is history - but not to Homeland Security.
Also, try Googling miniaturized firearms and you will get results that can amaze you. A working revolver the size of your thumb that can then be inserted in any electronic device. Or electronic devices like a cell phone restyled to do the work of a gun.
Thus, we have to bear with our security people who are trying their best to be at least one step ahead of the bad elements.
Remember box-cutters were the weapons of choice for the 9/11 perpetrators.-
said...
Senor Enrique,
Is it okay if I link you in my blog, that way, I am able to read your very informative blog on a more regular basis?
Thanks.
Tess-
said...
wow, wonderful 'bra' stories you have here, eric. was absolutely amused with the bat who took refuge in a some ladies undergarment. hehehe!
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Señor Enrique said...
Lol ... very funny, Amadeo. And what some women supect is that there is a foot switch that TSA agents use that would sound off the alarm so they could scrutinize certain suspicious elements.
I do agree with you about the strict measures being conducted by airport security officials, but even prior to 9/11, I wasn't all that fond of flying; I always end up catching a cold or something after getting off the plane. I prefer taking the trains if possible.-
Señor Enrique said...
Sure, Tess ... and thanks, too! I love Raspberry jams, by the way. But here in Manila, I go for mango :)
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Señor Enrique said...
Like I said, Nell, thank God that our underwear don't come with padded pockets ... hehehe!
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Unknown said...
eric, i love the angle of your bra.:D and these stories are wickedly funny. poor baby bat, crushed and suffocated inside the lady's bra (haha)! i'm glad he got out alive!
you guys will never understand the power of a good-fitting bra!:D corsets are masochistic, but wonderbras are the a great invention. as for bra underwire setting off airport security---that is so weird! well, just take it off they can fondle the bra all day long (hahah).-
Señor Enrique said...
I saw an Oprah show dedicated to the power of good-fitting bra, Luna ... hehehe. And they surely made a lot of difference to the women who didn't realize they weren't wearing the proper bras.
I'm also somewhat puzzled how that bat survived being nestled for a couple of hours in that cushiony thing :)-
said...
Oh oh. This means I'm in big trouble. No, it's not because of oversized brassieres, ha ha ha! It is because I have pins in my left knee. I remember setting off an alarm in one of the airports when they first introduced these machines.
And in Heathrow airport in the early 70s, I also set off an alarm when I forgot to remove my hairclip from one of my pockets. Omigosh, I was a teener then and I got really scared when all these security people came running towards me.
I also have former students who are now CPAs working in the Carribeans and since they have audit assignments in different places, they have on several occasions been taken aside for "random security checks". One wondered why, in 3 places (Bermuda, New York and Florida), she was chosen to undergo these "random" checks and why in another airport (I think Puerto Rico) only she and two other Filipinos were chosen for random checks. They surmised that it must be because of their Philippine passports. I hope she's wrong because if she's not, then we're in trouble again.-
Señor Enrique said...
Lol ... glad to see you got a kick out this entry, Bugsy. After what you went through at NBS and all the hard work in teaching your students, a good laugh can be soothing, indeed :)
Hmmm ... I've never heard of such profiling cases, but at some point in time ('80s?), Filipinos with diplomatic passports were given a tough time and subjected to rude treatments by the port of entry agents. I guess, it was a reflection of their lack of respect for the Marcos regime.-
nutart said...
just to add another anecdote, Eric...
my husband and I travelled to germany just when the airports began to go super strict on anything "deadly" that one can have on one's personal or handcarry. It was just a few months after the 9/11. My husband was now and then divested of nailclippers and other toiletries. I went through the metal detectors easily. I discovered however that I had a nailclipper and a nailfile stashed inside my small backpack. For not surrendering it---I don't know. I guess I wanted a little adventure--maybe. I we had a stopover in Bangkok, went through the metal detectors and guards of Frankfurt and Dusseldorf (the ultimate tests!) No one asked me to take off/surrender my nailclipper and nailfile! And to think everyone in front and back of me had to take off shoes, belts, etc.! Guards would even reprimand some passengers hostilely. I went through easily as usual.
Finally, I showed the nailclipper/file to my husband 9and his parents) when we got to their house. They just attributed it to my innocent aura (ha!) :-).-
Señor Enrique said...
Lol ... cool, Bernadette!
But seriously, I've got to agree with them. You do have that certain "lightness" about you as if you wouldn't even hurt a fly even if it annoyed you to death.
During the early '90s, my best friend while in Paris got constantly stopped by the police. Told him it was his beard and the all black outfit that he favored wearing all the time. Told him the cops could care less even if they were Armanis; he probably looked sort of menacing after dark with that image.
