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Jill Filipovic: TSA Leaves Creepy Note After Finding Vibrator

by NowPublic Staff | October 24, 2011 at 07:25 am

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TSA to Lawyer Jill Filipovic: 'Get Your Freak On, Girl'

Jill Filipovic, lawyer as well as writer for Feministe, had packed a sex toy in her checked luggage while traveling. An as-yet-unidentified TSA agent got his/her grubby hands on it, however, and made sure that Filipovic knew it.

The standard we-snooped-through-your-bag form had a hand-written addendum: "GET YOUR FREAK ON GIRL[SIC]".

Jill Filipovic wrote about it for Feministe in a post called "Your Tax Dollars at Work". Could the sex toy (a vibrator, if you must know) be cleaned and then reused? In this case, Filipovic determined that the intimate device could never, ever be clean enough again. Some dirt just never comes off.

Update: the pervy TSA screener was fired, though the larger issue of real security vs security theater performed by rent-a-cops remains unaddressed, at least by the TSA itself.

So was it still there when she retrieved her luggage, I asked Filipovic?

"Yes, the vibe was still there. No theft, but I'm unsure if they handled it. Given that uncertainty, it's definitely being retired."

If you find this as creepy and inappropriate as we do, let designated TSA punching-bag Blogger Bob know.

If you think that this incident means that the TSA is effectively doing its job... think again. The TSA has a way of missing loaded guns. Your security apparatus is only as good as the people running it.