Airport staff forced 15-year-old schoolgirl to bare her breasts to prove her gender
A 15-year-old British schoolgirl, Caitlin Disley, was involved in an incident at Hurghada airport in Egypt that she described as “humiliating,” Wigan Today reported, publishing a photo of the girl.
Last month, Caitlin went on holiday to Egypt with her friend Olivia and her parents. The flight went smoothly, but there were problems at passport control: airport staff doubted that the photo in the documents presented to them was of Disley. The fact is that Caitlin had long hair in her passport photo, but since then she has managed to cut it short. According to her, this was the only change in her appearance that did not prevent her from being recognized in the photo.
However, after Disley had already passed through security, two men approached her and said they needed to “check” something. It turned out they wanted to make sure Caitlin was a girl, as stated in her passport. According to Caitlin’s father, the men planned to inspect her themselves, but Olivia’s mother insisted that a woman do it. Disley, who was taken to a separate room, had to lift up her bra and show her breasts. Then an airport employee began to insist that Caitlin also show her genitals, but her friend’s mother, who was accompanying her, firmly refused this request. In the end, a compromise was found: Caitlin lifted her shorts so that it became clear that she did not have a male genital organ.
“It was traumatic and humiliating. I’ve never had to go through anything like that before,” Disley said. Her father noted that even though his daughter looks like a boy, even with short hair, she’s easily recognizable from her passport photo. He and Caitlin decided to speak out because they don’t want anything like this to happen to anyone, especially children.