Stripped of More then My Clothes- Daria Mondesire

Daria MonDesire, the author of the article Stripped of More than My Cloths, has the right to feel victimized for being pick, out of the many people in that airport that day, to be stripped searched.  She may have the right idea when she says that she, an African American woman, was apparently picked for a strip search due to what she was wearing and not for her skin color. But, when she says everyone else that’s traveling outside the country should be searched as well, is when I disagree. As someone who travels at least once or twice a year, I would dread the day I know that I have to go through airport security just to go see my family. As well as going through security with younger siblings, I can tell you no parent, guardian, or older sibling would want to have their child or sibling go through that or even witness a child being strip-searched. MonDesire states in her argument,” Strip-search everyone who travels out of the country. Strip-search Martha Stewart… Strip-search Al Gore, members of the congress, all nine Supreme Court justices and every last one of the Daughters of the American Revolution.” (MonDesire 249)  If every single flyer was to have a full strip search, it would take every passenger more time to go through security then it already does. Have you ever waited in airport security lines? If you’re lucky, it could take you at least half an hour to get through those lines if not more. In all honesty, airport security is already a slow and tedious process. With the full body scans, and the pat downs aren't we already being searched enough?

AIrport Screenings

I disagree with MonDesire’s views in “Stripped of More than my clothes”. The main reason is that determining circumstances of any argument involving airline security or customs has changed since 9/11. People view the world and security issues vastly different since this article was written in the late 90’s. Also the authors viewpoint seemed to come from a purely emotional viewpoint rather than logic and reasoning. It seemed the author was mainly against the searches because she was a rape victim. While I’m not trying to make light of any traumatic experience she went through, if we stopped doing a task because of something that offends someone or something that one person went through, the human race would not be doing much at all. The author also seemed to skew statistics to seem in her favor; which in my opinion further invalidates her argument. The changed perspective in the new millennium, her emotional approach to her argument, and less than credible statistics are why I disagree with Daria MonDesire argument.