[Jasonstawnosaa]

Well, in the USA those new "X-ray scanners" are starting to pop-up at more and more airports. They basically show an X-ray image of your body on a screen, which I am personally not so fond of. You have the option to "opt-out" of this, you just have to say "I would like to opt-out" when it's your turn to walk through it. This only applies to airports with X-ray scanners and not the conventional metal-detector scanners. You will see the difference when you see one, it's a huge machine which you go in and stand inside with your arms spread out (I think), compared to a conventional metal-detector where you just walk under a rectangular arch type of thing.

Then they will yell out "male opt-out" or "female opt-out", or something to that effect. At which point you may have to wait anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes for someone of your gender to come. They will then walk you to one of the "pat-down" spots. At this point you will be given the option to have it done in a private room if you want, which also means even more time because they have to get a witness of the same gender to come with them since it will now be done in private. If you choose not to do it privately, then they will explain what they're about to do and go ahead with it then and there.

They first ask you to remove every single thing from your pockets, and your belt etc if you hadn't removed it already. Not even any pieces of paper or anything should be in the pockets. They then give you a run-down of what they're about to do, which is something to the effect of "sir I will start from the top of your body, I will pat down underneath your shoulders and throughout your torso, I will then pat around your waist and put my hands inside your waistband (yes, they do that), I will then pat down each one of your legs, lift your pant bottoms and while bringing my hands back up, I will pat between your legs (yes, it is what you're thinking)". Depending on the person doing it, they will either give you a very detailed speech before doing and then do a very detailed pat-down, or they will give a brief speech and do a brief pat-down.

Either way, so far I have opted-out of these X-ray machines in my travels just as a matter of principle, because I don't want anyone looking at an X-ray image of my body, especially since I'm not sure if the person looking at it is male or female. If I had a guarantee that no females were looking at that screen then maybe I would go for it.

However, each time I get patted down, I do think about whether it's better to get 'violated' like that (lol) or go through the X-ray machine. Sisters should definitely choose to have it done in private, brothers can probably get away with it being done in the open as long as it's a secluded type area and not in the middle of the public (though that has happened with me also).

In the end however all these measures are for the security of the general public so there's no point in having an 'issue' with them.

Alhamdulillah I have also noticed that in more recent times they seem to be very careful not to only choose "muslim looking people" for pat-downs & random checks. In fact for some reason I see more "old white people" (lol) being pulled out than anyone else. One time my brother was picked out for a random check (he has a beard) and he told me that the person who was telling him to step aside for the random check said it in a very 'nervous' and 'guilty' type manner, as if he was afraid that my brother would start screaming "WHY BECAUSE I'M MUSLIM!!???"....Lol.

Allah knows best.