Decorated Gymnast Aly Raisman Was NOT Happy With The Male TSA Agent That Body Shamed Her

Lady at TSA: "Gymnast? I recognized u by ur biceps"
Man at TSA: "I don't see any muscles" & continues 2 stare at me
How rude & uncomfortable

— Alexandra Raisman (@Aly_Raisman) May 24, 2017

I work very hard to be healthy & fit. The fact that a man thinks he judge my arms pisses me off I am so sick of this judgmental generation.

— Alexandra Raisman (@Aly_Raisman) May 24, 2017

If u are a man who can't compliment a girls □□ you are sexist. Get over yourself. Are u kidding me? It's 2017. When will this change?

— Alexandra Raisman (@Aly_Raisman) May 24, 2017

He was very rude. Staring at me shaking his head like it couldn't be me because I didn't look "strong enough" to him? Not cool.

— Alexandra Raisman (@Aly_Raisman) May 24, 2017

You're not going to find me claiming that body shaming isn't a very prevalent issue in society. That's partially because it's quite obviously something that effects many people, but it's mostly because I am not sure I could handle the emasculation if Aly Raisman challenged me to an arm wrestling competition for saying it's not. 

That being said, I think we should consider the context of this rude interaction between an Olympian gymnast and a TSA agent before we rush to judgement. I don't want to make it sound like those who are held responsible for vetting every irritable commuter during the most annoying part of their trip should be given free reign to be an objectionable asshole, but I definitely understand why they tend to be. I hardly even want to talk to myself when going through the process of boarding a flight, never mind talking to every self-important person that (understandably) thinks their time is more valuable than that of everyone else. That's why I have let it slide every time my intelligence has been insulted after saying "what?" to someone that is already occupationally obligated to repeat themselves hundreds of times per shift. 

Now, I clearly can't imagine what it's like for Aly Raisman to be viewed as weak simply because she's a woman when she's undeniably stronger than a significant number of men. I'm sure it happens far more often than we'd like to believe. I just can't - in good conscience - treat it as an all-encompassing indictment of society at large when the guilty party is someone that has to feel up pissed off passengers of every shape, size, and undoubtedly dim demeanor all damn day. I don't personally know the guy manning security at whatever terminal she was flying out of and he may very well be a sexist prick, but the possibility that a long day of being fake nice to testy travelers simply took it's toll on his attitude absolutely exists.