Interesting story. TF and I went on a brief trip, last week.
When I went through the wave scanner on the first flight the monitor showed that I may have had metal (or whatever all it searches for), in my pockets (I had on men's cargo shorts) and there was a mark (it is a square block), on the middle of my chest. The female attendant asked me if I had a necklace on (I did not). Obviously, I had nothing in my pockets. Back into the machine I went. This time the machine only highlights my shorts and does not mark my chest. The women felt my pockets and then I was off and running. No biggy.
So, on trip back, I go through the machine. I am wearing another pair of men's cargo shorts. This time what is marked was my pockets and my genital area.
A male first touches my pockets. I then tell him I am female. I wasn't stressed about it, it just made sense to me that it would be a female who would be patting me down.
Anyway, the guy gets all flustered, apologizes, and sends me back into machine. This time my genitals did not get a mark, but my shorts again did. A female attendant touched my pockets and then waved me on.
I find it interesting that male vs. female effects the machine? I don't know if that is why the mark disappeared when they changed it to a female outline, or if it just disppeared for the random reason the marking on my chest disappeared the first time...just random.
Anyway, the patting down event didn't bother me either time. It has to be done, so no biggy.
http://www.smartertravel.com/blogs/t...ml?id=15035728
I never had to deal with the backscatter. I am glad that this machine uses radio waves instead of x-rays. I am a big believer that x-rays are not good for our health, and that in particular it stimulates cancer growth. I think that if I was a regular traveler I would choose to be patted down over going through an x-ray machine over and over again
ETA: They did go through TF's bag in a friendly, respectful way.