Part of the new "enhanced" procedure is (or at least, was, when I flew) to feel under the waistband of the person's underwear (between the underwear waistband and the skin).

Also, http://wewontfly.com is a good resource for anti- scope-or-grope people.

The radiation may be a small dose, but it is NOT spread out through the volume of your body, but rather all focused on the surface of the skin (and most of that is focused at the top of the head). The kind of radiation we get while up in the airplane, and other common natural radiation, is distributed throughout the body and therefore, dose-for-dose, less harmful to any one particular spot. The comparison between the radiation scanees receive and that received while actually flying isn't a fair one. I went through the same situation, and refused to be put through the scanner (less because of fear of radiation, and more because of data security and privacy.) What I didn't have the presence of mind to do is ASK THE TSA AGENT TO CHANGE HER GLOVES. God only knows where they had been before they were inside my underwear. I felt humiliated, violated, angry, and also had that awful skin creepy crawly sensation you get when you talk about ants or crabs. :/

Thank you, Wil, and much thanks to your mom! I also have Celiac, and wasn't diagnosed until a couple of years ago. I couldn't believe the difference in my life switching to a GF diet made. Now I deal with people who don't understand the consequences of cross-contamination. When I need to get the point across quickly, I say that I have severe allergy, even though that's not the case. I've had people say to me "Oh, I just put a little bit of flour in there to thicken the soup up a bit, you shouldn't be able to taste it at all!" not realizing that taste IS NOT THE ISSUE. (No, I'm not friends with those people anymore. I made it clear to them that they had poisoned me, and put my health in danger.)