Here Are Seven Things to Know about the New Airport Screening Process You’ll Face This Holiday Season

The TSA's new policies seem to have everyone kinda freaked out . . . body scanners, pat-downs, possible full frontal nudity.  Here's what you should REALLY expect when you travel this holiday season.

#1.)  If your airport has full-body scanners, you'll probably be scanned. So far, 68 U.S. airports have full-body scanners.  They basically replace the metal detector you're used to walking through.

--Which means:  If they've got scanners, you'll probably be scanned.  (--You can see a list of the airports with scanners here.  It's basically complete . . . and as you'll see, it has most of the major airports in the country . . .)

http://consumerist.com/2010/09/updated-list-of-full-body-scanners-at-airports.html

#2.)  Can they see my private areas? Sort of.  They'll get a fuzzy, gray-and-black look at the general outline of your body underneath your clothes.

--Your face will be blurred and the image is allegedly destroyed as soon as you're done.  Some full body scans recently leaked, but those weren't from the TSA . . . they say they don't even have the ability to save the photos.

--Also, the image won't be broadcast to the entire security line . . . TSA officials in a back, private room will be examining it.

#3.)  Can I refuse the screening? Yes, but if you do, you'll get a mandatory pat-down from a TSA officer of your gender.  And it's a LEGIT pat-down . . . tops and sides of breasts, inner thighs, buttocks . . . those are all in play now.

#4.)  Why do they have to touch me so intimately? This is all a reaction to the guy who tried to fly with a bomb in his underwear last Christmas.

#5.)  How long do the pat-downs take? They take about two minutes.  The body scanner takes about 30 seconds.  But yes, prepare for longer lines while everyone gets used to the new procedures.

#6.)  Do the scanners pose a radiation threat? No.  You get somewhere between one-fiftieth and one-hundredth the radiation you'd get from a standard chest X-ray.

--A professor at Arizona State University says your odds of getting cancer from the scan are about one in 30 million . . . which, fittingly enough, are about the same odds that the plane you're on will get blown up by a terrorist.

#7.)  If it's your lady time . . . uh . . . TSA will know. Here we go.  The full body scans pick up everything under your clothes . . . including the various feminine products --The TSA says their screeners are expected to use discretion . .

(Time / Raw Story / MSNBC)