To not want menstrual cup to show on airport scanner

[ThistlyPerf]

I’m due to fly next week when I’ll have my period and it got me wondering if sanitary ware is visible on the airport scanner. I know periods are a totally normal thing which half the population experiences but it still feels a bit (privacy) invasive.

A quick Google search confirms cups certainly are. Has anyone experienced any issues with body scanners? AIBU to feel uncomfortable about this?

The scanner picked up the fancy back of my sports bra (lots of criss crosses) which I thought was quite funny. The only time I've felt decidedly awkward at the airport was when I'd run out of clean knickers on the way home (and so was not wearing any) and was taken to a little booth at the airport in Dubai as I kept setting off the alarm . Luckily I was only patted down and then set free! Moral of the story - always wear knickers to the airport!

DH had a benign tumour on the back of his calf. He used to get pulled aside every journey when he went through the body scanner as it was highlighted as an anomaly, and he used to travel weekly on business. Eventually he went private to have it removed (NHS waiting list was several years long) just to save the hassle of being pulled aside every trip.

Gosh, I love had an Mirena for over 10 years and never knew it showed on a scanner - to busy making sure DH has picked up his phone/belt/watch out the tray and the DCs haven’t run off into departures. I did once have to sip DS’ formula when he was a baby to prove it wasn’t contaminated. Yuk!

*too

One in four fertile women are bleeding at any time. Who cares?

Would you prefer they coyly covered your pants so that women everywhere could be stuffed with God knows what and used as mules more easily?

Nb you are likely to bleed much more heavily in the air, be prepared

I've got a Mirena coil and always have a nightmare going through scanners. I always carry the card with me with the batch no and fitting date on just in case!

Thanks all for your replies. Just to clarify I know it’s a normal bodily function ( I certainly don’t think it’s unclean or anything as a pp’s comment) - I just don’t want random people knowing.

Of course if I wasn’t pre menstrual it probably wouldn’t be an issue for me! Completely understand safety comes first.

Oh and KaptainKaveman - feel better now after that?

OP if it bothers you so much you have the choice not to travel.

@CounsellorTroi

I assume they’d be able to see a tampon as well?

Not sure how the scanners there work but possibly a blood soaked tampon might take the consistancy of the body and not be 'that' visable where as a silicone mooncup would be an obvious foreign body.

Never tested it but if someone impales themselves on wood it often doesnt show on xrays because as the wood absorb body fluids they swell to match the tissue around them so could be similar with cotton I imagine.

Theoretically there could be drugs in the moon cup?

Not much granted but if they can see the cup but not the contents?

I'd never actually thought about it tbh. Last time I went through an airport they had to scan my boots and I was disappointed my piercings didn't set off the metal detector alarms...I was young so don't laugh....

This is fascinating I didnt realise the detail they could see

@JinglingHellsBells

I thought X ray scanners only picked up metal, not rubber/plastic/silicone.

^^this.

It's not Total Recall!!

@ThistlyPerf

Thanks all for your replies. Just to clarify I know it’s a normal bodily function ( I certainly don’t think it’s unclean or anything as a pp’s comment) - I just don’t want random people knowing.

Of course if I wasn’t pre menstrual it probably wouldn’t be an issue for me! Completely understand safety comes first.

Oh and KaptainKaveman - feel better now after that?

The scanners look for metal, not rubber or plastic.

If the scanner could see inside your body and find anything and everything, you'd be talking about medical CT or MRI scans, not a quick look at the airport for guns, wires etc.
If they want to look inside your orifices they would do a full body search.

@Whatwouldscullydo

Theoretically there could be drugs in the moon cup?

Not much granted but if they can see the cup but not the contents?

I'd never actually thought about it tbh. Last time I went through an airport they had to scan my boots and I was disappointed my piercings didn't set off the metal detector alarms...I was young so don't laugh....

This is fascinating I didnt realise the detail they could see

Metal detectors are set at different levels of sensitivity. It's a balance between detecting items that present a threat and keeping the levels of false alarms/needing people to remove footwear (lots have metal in the soles and/or zips) piercings, being troubled by bodily implants and underwired bras etc etc.

X-ray scanners can see different types of materials, to a degree as liquids, metals and plastics all have different densities.

But the body scanners used in airports don't see mooncups whether they are filled with air, blood or drugs so it's not an issue anyway.

This is funny! So many posts confirming '' they can see inside yoooooooooou''

All i know for sure is that everyone else just flies though but my bra wires always set it off and i have to be taken aside and patted down. While DH waits up ahead with this face

I am so confused what scanners everyone is talking about, I thought you walked through a metal detector?

@Pedalpushers There's several different types.

Metal detectors (the normal 'doorway' arches) and three different types of body scanner, one of which (transmission X-ray) isn't used in UK airports (there was a short trial years ago, but none since).

Transmission X-ray is the only one that can see inside you and are only used in prisons, so unless there's a lot of people on this thread who have been in prison, no-one's seen anyone's mooncup or mirena coil .

Omg who cares! It’s not like they will shout “SHE IS ON HER PERIOOOOOOD” (and even so? Who cares!). Honestly, I bet they saw so much stuff over the years that a menstrual cup would 99.9% go unnoticed or get barely a glance.
Yes I have a UTI and yes I flew with a menstrual cup (and also put a dildo in my suitcase hoping for a laugh and got unnoticed as well cause guess what? They don’t care!)

Pahahaha.

The body scanners are the ones you have to stand in for a couple of seconds doing the poses as opposed to the walk through metal detectors.

(I've spent a lot of time working on all types of security equipment from a H&S perspective). DP always gets all eye roly with me in foreign airports because I take a suspicious amount of interest in the security equipment and he expects that I'll get carted off one day because they want to know what I'm up to. However, I did particularly like the 'have you hidden a bomb in your shoes' machine and 'is that a bottle of juice or liquid explosives' scanners in some Spanish airport, it seems they are well ahead of the small UK airports that we normally depart from in terms of available tech.

[quote SilverGlassHare]Oh, I have a questions for those of you who’ve worked in airport security! I’ve gone through security several times with one of these card tools, which have a short blade. The first time was an accident, and I was surprised it wasn’t confiscated! Is it just being missed? I keep it in a little metal business card holder with a tiny mirror so I wondered if it hadn’t been spotted on the scanner. www.victorinox.com/uk/en/Products/Swiss-Army-Knives/Swiss-Cards/Swiss-Card-Classic/p/0.7100.T[/quote]
I suspect, looking at that, that the blade is too small to be of concern.
DH worked in airport security for years pre Covid. He was always talking about lengths of blades.

I Almost always used to set off the alarm then during lockdown I dumped all my underwire bras - now I just sail through

Ooh I once had to put a hair clip in the suitcase. It was plastic but had a shiny silver coloured plating over the top. The kind that kinda peels/crumbles off. It was just just cheap clairs accessories kinda job. One of the types that has like a piece that looks a bit like a pen I guess you stab it through your hair. Blunt as anything. But they made me take my plastic hair accessory out ny hair and put it in the suitcase.

Not the same trip that allowed me on a flight with spiky boots with metal on the front ( new rocks) nor the same trip where I made it all the way hom with a tube if lip salve in my back pocket.

Omg this has never occurred to me! the amount of tampons ( just from me!) they just have seen!!!! 😂 😂

@BIoodyStupidJohnson

SIL used to do this job. They don’t give a shit, and they see all sorts. They’re there 99% for security theatre purposes, but are also trained to look for specific things and ignore everything else.

What’s the other 1%. Dinner party anecdotes