if they decide that you should strip down to your underwear, there’s nothing you can do about it (I’ve heard that this happens).

This definitely happens, but it’s nothing new. I have a piece of steel supporting my ulna after a bad fight (and I can’t fight anymore). It sets off metal detectors, or it used to in the 1990s and 2000s, and definitely the ones that cropped up after 9/11 in NYC.

TSA people are so great; very focused in their efforts to kinda be power-trippy dicks at times. I can confirm that if you want to be swimsuit-level strip-searched in an out-of-the-way corner in full view of everyone, just flying into America is how we do it; ask to skip the cancer box for extra fun. CALL it the ‘cancer box’ if you really wanna be sure. I’m thankful for my brief military stint as it has removed all shame from my being and I was able to get processed quickly enough each time.

I’m super-rural and super-white, so that may be the super-power helping me avoid the worst of problems, and I’m sorry their racism makes everyone else’s experience that much worse than even mine.