Is that a pistol, or are you just happy to be seen?

A new airport scanner provokes controversy due to explicit viewing of passengers.

CNN Article.
AP Article (via Google).

I have concerns about this technology, just as privacy and civil liberties advocates do; also the irony of making such explicit imagery a routine part of security measures calls into question many conventions in our society on modesty, nudity, and privacy, especially when women are being banned from airplanes for dressing "indecently" and a little cleavage on a politician provokes outcry. While I do not believe that women are delicate flowers who need to be protected, I have to wonder if this technology was developed and advocated by heterosexual men who have never known what it is like to be leered at, harassed, or surreptitiously photographed from compromising angles. I recommend we send those officials through the scanner and tell them that their scans were being carefully scrutinized by Larry Craig or Mark Foley. Then let us see if they are as excited about this breakthrough.