The prospect of mandatory full body scans at airports has ruffled many feathers. I’ve read about people worried it could provide material for pedophiles. On trans men bottom surgery forums many are worried that these machines will create all sort of havoc whether they are pre or post surgery.

There are those worried that their packers will become suspect and result in strip searches. Others are concerned that the liquid in their erectile devices will get them similar fates if not worse unless they start carrying around the surgical letter explaining which device they have inside their bodies. All around, there is anxiety about these scans disclosing their medical history.

Interestingly, many are suggesting to pre-operative guys not pack as a solution. If these machines really are as detailed as I understand them to be, I can think of fewer things that would alert airport authorities to one’s pre-op medical history. I fly frequently and always pack. I have had full body scans and never encountered so much as a question about the content of my underwear. I have a few theories. One: they realize what it is, what it probably means about me and conclude that solid silicone isn’t bomb making material or otherwise illegal/dangerous. Two: They don’t realize what it is/that it’s not attached to the rest of me and let me on my merry little way. And varying shades of those two.

Post-surgery, presuming I get an erectile device that utilizes a liquid; I cannot foresee why I’d fret about it. I am sure that between now and then, I will hear if they start strip-searching women with breast implants. It isn’t just trans men who get erectile devices, and as with the packers, to the best of my non-bomb making knowledge, they would not be the preferred way to try and bring a flight down in a concealed fashion. I hope customs officers realize the absurdity of worrying about whether I’d slice myself open to remove a liquid in a bid to make a bomb.

I have had plenty of unpleasant moments at various borders, including one for a country (not Canada) where I hold citizenship. I was informed that I could not use my passport because I did not present as my legal standings were at the time. I explained that I could not yet change my legal standings because of the country’s requirements to do so (I have been able to since) but otherwise, there was no law stating that someone medically transitioning forfeited their citizenship/right to travel. They concurred. I’m not going to lie. It was embarrassing to have 6 rows of people find out via rude shouts of customs officers standing at opposite ends of a large room that there was “someone odder than Michael Jackson.” There were lots of things that occurred that should not have but I got in none the less.

Sure, traveling has disclosed my medical history to various people (more so those who check my luggage in than customs officers if verbalized concerns are any sign of this.) But even though I go through many entry ports more than once, I have yet to recognize a customs officer or airline associate and I suspect the same is true of them with respect to me.

And so here I am, after long flights and many security checks, half way across the world from Toronto. I packed the whole way and no one batted an eyelash. I could, however, have done without the lady sitting next to me who shared far too much, wholly unsolicited, information about her relationship and sex life. Pity there’s no scan to ensure better compatibility between folks forced to spend hours on end next to each other in cramped environments.