What's wrong with this picture? And whose business is it, anyway?
Those questions have had Boing Boing founder Mark Frauenfelder -- and others following his story -- scratching their heads since he tweeted and blogged about it on Sunday.
LAX #TSA officer humiliated my daughter, flying without us. Told her "You're only 15! Cover yourself up!" pic.twitter.com/u0HyhsDt28
— Mark Frauenfelder (@Frauenfelder) June 16, 2013
The image shows Frauenfelder's 15-year-old daughter, who was allegedly "humiliated and shamed" for her outfit by a TSA official at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).
Frauenfelder wrote on Boing Boing that he hadn't witnessed the event himself -- his daughter was "on a college tour" with other high schoolers at the time -- but heard about it from her via text message.
"[S]he was at the station where the TSA checks IDs," he wrote. "She said the officer was 'glaring' at her and mumbling. She said, 'Excuse me?' and he said, 'You're only 15, COVER YOURSELF!' in a hostile tone."
Click over to Boing Boing to read Frauenfelder's full post.
According to a tweet from Boing Boing, two of the teen's friends also witnessed the incident.
Maureen Herman, former bassist from Babes in Toyland who is now executive director of Project Noise and a friend of Frauenfelder, wrote on a blog devoted to activism for women's reproductive rights:
This may not seem like a big deal. To Mark it’s a big deal. To his daughter it’s a big deal. To us, things like this need to matter, because they inject shame (or try to) in a young woman who is just living her life, going to check out colleges, and throws on the first of what will unfortunately be many layers of sexism she will encounter in her life.
Responding to followers on Twitter, Frauenfelder said the alleged comments "came as a shock" to his daughter, writing, "Many adults would also be stunned into silence by [the TSA officer's] creepy sexist abuse."
The incident is reminiscent of a story that went viral last year, involving a 14-year-old student, Ema Parker, who was brought to her school's front office for violating the dress code. As he related on his own blog and on HuffPost, Ema's father was called to the school, only to find an outfit that seemed completely appropriate to him.
Parker's situation was different. There were school rules involved -- but like Frauenfelder, Ema's dad questioned the motives of a principal who had pointed out the apparent problem with his daughter's skirt:
How could I be so blind as to have missed the fact that my daughter was dressed as a harlot, and presented a danger to all the boys in the school? ...
I began to think: "Luckily the school administration can look at her and see her as a provocative female," but then I thought... no... that is extremely creepy. I tried to think: "Luckily the school administration can look at her though the eyes of hormone-addled teenage boys to see her as provocative," but then I thought... no... that is weird-creepy.
Frauenfelder seems satisfied, after a meeting he and his wife had with the TSA, that "they are taking this seriously" so far (he says they have opened an investigation).
The Huffington Post reached out to the TSA for comment, but has not yet received an official response.