TSA insists body scanners can’t detect tampons, but menstruating travelers are sharing a very different story

A woman’s airport security story has gotten a lot of attention on social media after she said her tampon set off the TSA scanner alarm. Cynthia Starich posted about what happened to her on TikTok, and many other passengers are now saying they have gone through the same thing.

According to Daily Dot, Starich shared a video explaining what happened when she walked through airport security. She said she saw a red box show up on the screen right over her crotch area. When she asked the TSA workers if the machine picked up her tampon, they said no and told her it was just detecting extra layers of clothes. She did not believe them, especially after she looked on TikTok and found videos from other women talking about the exact same problem.

“I scoped out TikTok, found some other videos of some other bitches that were talking about how their f**king tampons got picked up by the TSA scanner thing,” she said on her video. “So my question is, why wouldn’t you just tell me that?… Why are you making it weird?”

Other women are sharing similar stories

The video got popular fast and reached almost 100,000 views. Hundreds of people left comments talking about their own experiences at airport security. A lot of women said they got stopped while they were on their period, and some specifically mentioned tampons, pads, menstrual cups, and even IUDs causing the alarm to go off.

One commenter, .l.like.flowers., said “They picked mine up lol. Had to double screen me lol”
Another user, blkgrlnyc, shared “It definitely picks up moisture cause it always goes off on my boob sweat area when I wear sports bras with no wire”

bhdgrlxo shared “I haven’t noticed if I’m on my period or not everytime it happens, but after a bbl I get stopped now almost everytime for a pat down. 😭”

Some people said they got stopped several times and only figured out later that they were wearing pads each time it happened. This kind of privacy worry is something travelers keep running into, just like when hotel guests have called out bathroom designs that offer no privacy.

As travelers keep posting about troubling things that happen during their trips, this situation is adding to bigger conversations about being open and honest when it comes to airport security. The Daily Dot asked TSA to comment but has not heard back yet.