It is clear to me, based on several lines of evidence, that the TSA officers in this case were taking advantage of an opportunity to enact misogynistic (hateful) feelings with regard to women, symbols of pleasure, and symbols of individual freedom, as well as to get off on the pain, anger, and humiliation of another person (a woman, in particular; perhaps an S and M kind of display). What evidence? Consider what earlier people have mentioned in the forum. Particularly: there is no way that these rings could serve as a weapon while larger metal objects could conceivably work in such a way; it is painful and humiliating to remove them; other small metal objects often make it through the screening process (belt buckles, small watches, etc.); a smaller metal detector should have enabled detection of possible threats without removing these rings. My suspicion is that people who favorable to these forced removals of body rings are people who are generally opposed to their use or who have control issues and, thus, are opposed to public expressions of this kind. BTW, although I shouldn't have to mention this, it happens that I am a guy; my name is Anthony (Some people make the amazing assumption that only women would make a big deal about these kinds of issues.).