Can I refuse a TSA pat-down?

I'm a woman in my 20s, and I have had TSA flag me for extra screenings several times over the years using the millimeter scans, often if I'm wearing higher-waisted pants. This involves TSA agents touching my stomach, inner thighs, crotch and even inside my waistband. Is there any way to refuse? — Kate, Pittsburgh

Currently, travelers are required to undergo screening at airport security by technology or "physical screening." Most of us go through a millimeter wave advanced imaging technology (AIT) scanner — the machine you stand inside with your hands above your head. The scanner detects potential threats like weapons and explosives. Then there's the walk-through metal detector — usually reserved for TSA PreCheck members or people with disabilities or medical conditions.

You can decline both tech options for a physical screening, which includes a Transportation Security Administration officer inspecting your body with their hands with a "sufficient pressure to ensure detection" of potential risks. Officers are to use the back of their hands when they touch sensitive areas, although they may need to use the front, too.

. While TSA policies prohibit unlawful profiling, the agency has been criticized for using screening methods that may encourage ethnic and racial profiling, particularly toward Muslims and people of color.

For example, "if the waist of an individual triggers the alarm, they will feel around the waistband," said TSA spokesperson Lisa Farbstein.

Knowing it's part of the rules doesn't necessarily make a physical search less uncomfortable. Is there any way around it? Farbstein said the short answer is no, you can't refuse a pat-down. If the millimeter wave scanner is set off, TSA is required to investigate.

"If somebody triggers an alarm at the checkpoint, the way to resolve the alarm is to do a pat-down," Farbstein said.

I asked if you could avoid a pat-down by requesting a second screening after attempting to remove whatever triggered the scanner, but Farbstein reiterated TSA's stance: If the alarm goes off, you can expect a pat-down.

What you can do is ask for a more discreet pat-down in a private screening room with a TSA officer of your gender and a witness, like a second officer or a travel companion. You could get TSA PreCheck, which often allows travelers to use the metal detector over AIT screening, but you could still be flagged for extra screening if the alarm is triggered.

If it happens to you, Farbstein says to turn around and look at the AIT's screen where you'll see the outline of a human body. "This machine will put a yellow box on the area that has triggered in the alarm," she said.

I wouldn't expect these pat-downs go away anytime soon. The main goal of TSA, which was created after the 9/11 attacks, is to stop dangerous items from getting on planes — and every day, people try to sneak them through. TSA finds guns inside arm slings, a raw chicken and peanut butter, along with weapons like throwing stars and machetes. There was also the thwarted 2009 terrorist attack in which a passenger on a flight to Detroit tried to detonate a bomb hidden in his underwear.

"It's all about security," Farbstein said, adding that "the thing passengers like the least is to get a pat-down. Let me just tell you the thing that TSA officers like the least is to give a pat-down."