This is a good question. As far as I know, TSA checks are always only done by people of the same gender. So the request by the Hindu priests must have gone beyond that, why else would it be news? I know that the Hindu priests I saw definitely got special treatment (pre-boarding, only male flight attendants), but that was from a private company, of course. As to your question, I think it is well-accepted that people can ask that only a same-sex person touches them, when it comes to TSA. If there were any distinctions, I would say women are more worthy of protection than men, as men are usually the gropers, not the other way around lol.
Beats me. With India's (Bhārat?) limitless rise to the world stage, we might hear more about customs in detail much like how Yao Ming was a cultural awakening for some folks here during that time. I've had good Indian friends and co-workers, and they don't really talk about "orthodox" customs or straight up mysogyny in detail. When we do, it's usually a light competition over who grew up in the more ****ed up and rigid culture. It was a few years back and my company then was trying to introduce pair programming to our client. We had an offshore team in Pune and brought some over to share norms and knowledge. Their visit was very successful and they were well liked. I'd find out later they would pair fine with everyone but they absolutely refused to pair with a female dev from our same consultancy. There were a few women in that Pune team, and they weren't incels lurking in a black light dungeon. Maybe it's another round of...when they make it big, maybe they'll adopt more western ideals and act our "better principles"? Pretty please because our culture says it's the right thing to do? P.S. there's a diplomatic row between Trudeau and Modi right now. Smells related even if it doesn't seem related.
By the way, took a photo. They were ushered through before everyone else (except for the wheelchair folks). Don't know if they traveled in Business or Economy, but not in First (where I was).
