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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

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Original poster

Checking handbags 'for security'

99 replies

Swanhissing · 04/05/2019 21:10

I have increasingly found that my handbag is being checked for security reasons when i enter places. I dont mind genuine security checks but i am beginning to feel that the 'bag checks" affect women way more than men and have nothing to do with security.

I always ask what is being looked for and its generally food, glass bottles and knives. All of which fit in mens coat pockets (and mine)

Today i went to see a ballet in a small town and had to wait in a queue for 20 minutes whilst 3 blokes looked in all the handbags for knives and sweets according the the guy who looked in my bag. None of the men had bags so just strolled in to the bar. Presumably with coat pockets just free of sweets and knives because they can police themselves?
Is anyone else noticing this trend?

OP posts:

DeltaAlphaDelta · 05/05/2019 01:21

Exactly @LassOfFyvie!

Anything thats possible to cause damage, injure people, compromise copyright, cause a nuisance to other customers or cause an issue against the licence of the venue is a security issue.

Security are working on behalf of the venue management and have to follow their rules. Perversely tho, the same venue can have different rules on prohibited items depending on whats being shown. I have worked one venue where one night there are very limited searches, or none at all yet another night we will be instructed to confiscate all food and drink, even bottled water. Not always a rhyme or reason to it.

OccasionalKite · 05/05/2019 01:25

Yes, women need clothes with adequate pockets, so as to ditch having to carry a bag.

Auldspinster · 05/05/2019 01:37

I had a packet of softmints confiscated at a Radiohead gig.

Reasonstobeearful · 05/05/2019 01:39

Confiscating bottled water is tight. I hate that.

DeltaAlphaDelta · 05/05/2019 01:49

I completely agree @Reasonstobeearful its a horrible thing to have to do. I usually turn a blind eye if the bottle is sealed and hidden in a bag.

Reasonstobeearful · 05/05/2019 01:52

That's a good attitude - thank you on behalf of event attendees!

DeltaAlphaDelta · 05/05/2019 01:57

No problem. I dont like being robbed blind by overpriced water and sweets when I go to an event either, so I will usually try to sneak them in myself if I can as well!

SwiftyT · 05/05/2019 06:23

There were heavy searches when I went to Wembley Stadium for a gig but when we came out and went back in, nothing although I think we had to go through the metal detectors again.
I had my chewing gum confiscated at a gig but we were told it was because someone had thrown a piece the night before and it had hit the artist in the face.

SwiftyT · 05/05/2019 06:25

Not only do you get water bottles confiscated but in lots of venues you can't have a lid if you buy a bottle of water which is a pain in the arse. Apparently lids can be used as missiles but so can bottles (often fill of piss!).

squeekums · 05/05/2019 06:41

When I go to the footy, they have tables set up and everyone, male or female is bag checked. After bag check we get the wand over ourselves

They can look, fine. The second their hand goes to enter, I rip the bag back and tell them no, if you would like something moved, ask.

vicviking · 05/05/2019 07:58

Can't see the issue. Would rather know searches are taking place. Open my bag - security take a quick look. Doesn't bother me if women are disproportionately searched because they are more likely to be carrying bags.

meditrina · 05/05/2019 08:08

I think bottles are more often refused these days, since the acid attack.

It's hard to check a seal for tampering, and if you pick something up to check seal is intact, you can't then pretend you haven't seen it.

InTheHeatofLisbon · 05/05/2019 08:15

At the football (my only experience of being searched recently) everyone gets patted down/empties their pockets.

Bags are automatically checked but I don't carry a handbag to the game (it's a PITA) but every bag even carrier bags are searched so it doesn't strike me (In that situation) as a M/F issue. If anything the men are more rigorously searched!

Original poster

Swanhissing · 05/05/2019 08:24

LassOfFyvie - i think you've helped me understand whats bothering me. A lot of people here are giving examples of genuine security checks at places which are known risks of terrorism, violence or drug dealing and talking about security companies and training.

I think for me its the creep of this more genuine type of security to a more 'commercial protection as a condition of entry' and we have all got so used to opening our bags that we dont even think about it and i feel companies are using that a bit and this impacts on women. so in our local cinema and theatre its not a security company trained or patting people down. Its ushers. I genuinley believe at this ballet they were looking for mini cans of prosecco, gin and pims. If they'd said that i would have understood more but it was the knives comment which made me think really? It is their right to say you cant come in till ive looked to see you arent bringing in stuff you arent allowed. When i was younger the same rules applied about bringing you own food but there wasnt the expectation you would have you bag looked at. They said no bags and had a cloakroom or confiscated the drinks if they saw them.

OP posts:

InTheHeatofLisbon · 05/05/2019 08:42

so in our local cinema and theatre its not a security company trained or patting people down. Its ushers

Well for a start that's illegal. Without an accredited SIA (security industry authority) badge they are not allowed to touch any member of the public, for a pat down or anything else.

GreenEggsHamandChips · 05/05/2019 08:52

Yes definitely profiling.
Disneyland Paris' profiling is amusing. DP with us in a motorbike jacket, no problem. Separated from us enough not to be clear hes with us... thorough going over with the wand and every bit of metal in pocket checked.

If you want to get something through most securities put it on a wheelchair. i hate that. Dont skimp on checking DS or my bag just because hes in a wheelchair and im pushing it. Check everything properly!!

LassOfFyvie · 05/05/2019 09:16

Ushers patting you down at a theatre? I find that difficult to believe.

when i was younger the same rules applied about bringing you own food but there wasnt the expectation you would have you bag looked at. They said no bags and had a cloakroom or confiscated the drinks if they saw them

The reason it will have changed is because people will have been trying to circumvent the rule.

DeltaAlphaDelta explained that "security" is very wide ranging from the obvious to just about everything which goes on in a venue. And that's fine.

In venues which do this all bags are searched. Turning this into "oh another way women are more oppressed" is really a bit silly.

InTheHeatofLisbon · 05/05/2019 09:18

In venues which do this all bags are searched. Turning this into "oh another way women are more oppressed" is really a bit silly.

Agreed. I think that turning issues which aren't into the oppression of women actually just creates white noise which drowns out actual issues which are oppressing women.

Being searched, having bags/pockets searched isn't oppression of women, it's a sensible approach given the terror threat of the last 15 years or so!

Original poster

Swanhissing · 05/05/2019 09:50

Im obviously on my own on this i have got a bit grumpy old woman recently!

Yes people try and break the rules but they still do. By revolutionary means of pockets or man-friend pockets.

The ushers didnt pat down - i wrote it badly and apolgise if it was unclear. I meant they werent patting down because they werent security so calling it a security check was a bit of a stretch.

Everyone in the queue was saying ' oh it keeps us safer, i dont mind' but that wasnt really the purposes of the check.

Its interesting none has suggested that they had more people checking for instance to reduce the impact then we could enter more quickly. I cant help wondering if it had been a queue of men that whether more ushers woukd have appeared to look bags and keep people moving.

I know its a bit silly to suggest its another way im opressed because i get that its the bag thats the issue not the sex of the person carrying the bag. But its intersting to me that when it comes to violence men are riskier than women but because of bags women go through more security checks.

I think its an intersting discussion and i wondered if anyone felt the same which is why i raised it.

Ive learned a lot about venue security. I see more reason for pockets. Its interesting about men using women to take stuff in their bags. I ferl more informed.

OP posts:

Rufusthebewilderedreindeer · 05/05/2019 09:56

Its interesting about men using women to take stuff in their bags

Ive seen this a lot

Dh is bang out of luck on this one as I rarely carry a handbag and i give him everything to put in his pockets

cortex10 · 05/05/2019 10:14

We commented on this recently. My bag was searched at the British Museum but not DH's Barbour jacket with its many hidden pockets (which he tells me are meant to be useful for things like carrying dead birds while out on a shoot🤔)

TheTitOfTheIceberg · 05/05/2019 10:20

I cant help wondering if it had been a queue of men that whether more ushers woukd have appeared to look bags and keep people moving.

I went to a feminist comedy thing recently where the audience was 85-90% women and there must have been easily a dozen security people performing bag checks so the queue moved quickly (not least because the checks were pretty cursory) so I think it’s just your venue’s poor organisation, OP!

DontCallMeBaby · 05/05/2019 10:24

Alternative setup - my workplace does random bag searches. Years ago, they didn’t include women’s handbags in this, some kind of archaic idea that handbags were terribly private and sacrosanct. Two effects of this - men got searched more than women, and if you were a woman with something demonstrably NOT a handbag (eg a backpack) you got searched a LOT.

We still have the pocket thing, they can’t search pockets or pat down (unless, I think, they develop specific concerns rather than a random pick to search). Men do get searched plenty - being a workplace the vast majority of people are carrying a bag.

It’s about risk management. People do point out there’s a lot they could fit in their pockets, but bag searches make it a bit more difficult to do bad things. The fact they don’t make it impossible isn’t a reason to stop.

WindsweptEgret · 05/05/2019 10:47

and if you were a woman with something demonstrably NOT a handbag (eg a backpack) you got searched a LOT. I've seen it done by size of bag, bigger than an A4 sheet and you need it checked, which I think is fair enough. Some handbags are much bigger than my backpack, and just because it's not a 'lady' bag, doesn't mean I don't have sanpro in it. Not that I'm bothered by anyone seeing sanpro, but a 'lady' bag is no more private than a unisex one.

UnRavellingFast · 05/05/2019 10:50

Slightly at a tangent. Why do women get the 'joy' of carrying bags and men often don't. I used to carry a bag and ex plus kids would dump all the crap they didn't want to carry in it. So I downsized to a mini bag but they still tried. Now we just need key card and phone it goes in my pocket - or more satisfyingly- it went into ex's pockets because women don't have good pockets! Liberate yourself from the handbag women! (Lighthearted, I know this not practical for many )

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