Gate Rape
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) began in 2001 under the U.S. Department of Transportation; in 2003, TSA was moved to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. New airport scanners and full-body pat-downs were administered in November 2010. Many air travelers objected to the revealing scanners and the aggressive pat-downs.
The TSA pat-downs at airline gates were called “gate rape” by airline crews (wordplay borrowing from the term “date rape”), cited in print since at least April 2002. “Gate rape” became a popular term in November 2010 and was the Urban Dictionary’s “November 19, 2010 Urban Word of the Day.”
The TSA itself was given several unflattering nicknames, including “Total Sexual Assault” and “Tough Shit, America.”
Wikipedia: Transportation Security Administration
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security responsible for security in all modes of transportation in the U.S.
The TSA was created as part of the Aviation and Transportation Security Act, sponsored by Donald Young in the house and Ernest Hollings in the senate, passed by the 107th U.S. Congress, and signed into law by President George W. Bush on November 19, 2001. Originally part of the U.S. Department of Transportation, the TSA was moved to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on March 25, 2003.
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November 2010 new screening procedures
Beginning in November 2010, TSA added screening procedures, including backscatter X-ray scans that display nude images of passengers’ bodies to TSA screeners and pat-downs in which TSA screeners touch passengers’ breasts, buttocks, and genitals.
Urban Dictionary
Gate Rape
November 19, 2010 Urban Word of the Day
The TSA airport screening procedure.
My sister got gate raped at LAX.
by Kon Tiki Nov 17, 2010
Time magazine
Airline Security: Stuck on the Runway?
By Sally B. Donnelly Sunday, Apr. 21, 2002
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Since 9/11, flight crews have often had to go through screening alongside passengers, and are even pulled aside for special searches. The pilots call it “gate-rape”; many claim that screeners target them because doing so is an easy way for them to meet their quota of random searches and because screeners know crews will be punished by their airlines if they complain.
Law.com
A Legacy In Words
Sifting through business chatter for traces of 9/11.
Catherine Aman
Corporate Counsel
October 22, 2002
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Though most travelers welcome the added security, occasionally it’s just too much. “Gate rage” is back. Pilots are ticked off about being subject to random, special searches. They call the scrutiny “gate rape.”
Google Books
Weasel Words:
The dictionary of American doublespeak
By Paul Wasserman and Don Hausrath
Sterling, VA: Capital Books
2006
Pg. 70:
Gate rape The language used by members of air crews to describe how they are too frequently subjected to random searching by security personnel when headed for their flight departures because they can’t register any objection for fear of being punished.
ABC News - Nightline
‘Freedom Grope,’ ‘Gate Rape’—Whatever You Call It—Do You Think It’s Worth It?
November 17, 2010 11:34 PM
Some have dubbed it the “freedom grope.” Others call it “gate rape.” But whatever the snarky nickname, there is no denying that American passengers are in a huff over the new TSA pat-down procedure. For a nation long weary of shoe removal and liquid limits, full-body touching and revealing body scans have been a tough sell. But the TSA insists that they are vital for ever-shifting security demands. A recent CBS poll showed that Americans overwhelmingly support the use of full body X-rays at airports. What do you think? Have the new rules at last gone too far? Or is the extra peace of mind at 30,000 feet worth it?