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I had a strange experience that when I signed in to HOPE9 at the "Department of Hopeland Security," this year. Following the "homeland security" theme, a man a
by enneff 14y ago
I had a strange experience that when I signed in to HOPE9 at the "Department of Hopeland Security," this year.
Following the "homeland security" theme, a man and a woman made a couple of weak jokes about a "pat down," which I kinda laughed at, and then the woman came up to me and actually started patting me down. It was clearly a joke, but it was a violation of my personal space and it made me feel pretty uncomfortable. (At least at the airport they ask for your permission!) This was the first thing I experienced walking into an unfamiliar environment full of unfamiliar people. I was so shocked that I didn't say anything.
If this kind of thing happens to men (like me), I'm not surprised that Valerie and other women are hesitant to attend these conferences.
- ricardobeat 14y agoPat-downs are pretty standard in public events and totally fine for security. You know exactly who checked you if anything goes wrong, and he is hanging by a paycheck.
- Sidnicious 14y agoHOPE isn’t really that kind of a conference (you can come and go as you please and there’s usually just a volunteer sitting by the door glancing at everyone to make sure they have badges). If he got a pat down it wasn’t in any kind of official context. (FWIW, the attendees are pretty friendly.)
- enneff 14y agoIt was not a security pat down. It was a badly made joke that involved someone touching me without my consent.
- caseysoftware 14y agoI regularly fight the TSA at the airport and have been threatened many times. I document my antics using #fuTSA. The last few times they asked "do you consent?" I asked "does it matter what I say? They answered "not really" My response "so why bother asking? It's incredibly deceitful for a Federal employee to ask for my consent to do something when they're going to do it anyway. You're just trying to convince people they have a choice.. when we don't." I always get the "aggressive patdown" then. ;)