You should first read "My Birthday Suit: A True Story," by Anne.  
It can be found elsewhere in this folder.





             A NOTE TO "MY BIRTHDAY SUIT" ANNE

                            by

                         Joe Doe


Hi, Anne!

It's great to see you're a part of the group, and your recent post 
inspired me to go back and read your excellent "My Birthday Suit."

Although it was a real-life experience, it really has all of the 
elements I defined in "A Good Strip Search Story":

1) You "were innocent of any crime that justified your stripping."  
You were stripped when you went down to the police station TO PAY 
AN OVERDUE TRAFFIC TICKET.  You were an attractive 23-year-old 
woman; one has to wonder if a Donald Trump or even an ordinary 
23-year-old male would have been treated the same way.  

2) "Events should conspire against the victim to gradually remove 
her control over the situation; she isn't strip-searched because 
she is a hardened criminal; she is stripped because of a series of 
trivial mistakes or unlikely coincidences."  First, there was the 
traffic stop itself (crossing the yellow line).  Although you don't 
say so in your story, I remember your mentioning in another post 
that you were searched because you were on vacation and didn't pay 
the ticket.  Then you hadn't read the letter you received in the 
mail before you went in, so you didn't realize what it meant, and 
didn't bother to get a lawyer.  The police station was close to 
where you worked, so you thought you'd just drop it off.  

You didn't rob a liquor store.  Trivial mistakes, coincidences, and 
happenstance all conspired to move you closer and closer to the 
examination room...and the rubber glove!

3) "Her predicament may be arranged by a rival, or by a malevolent 
authority figure abusing his power, or it may be totally 
accidental.  But, no matter how bizarre the circumstances, she 
is quickly powerless to resist."  Bingo again!  There was no 
reason to search you.  If they thought you were a threat, they 
wouldn't have let you sit in the station, uncuffed and unguarded, 
while they filled out the paperwork, then leave you again while 
they went to get the matron.

Yes, it was procedure, but was "procedure" a handy excuse to strip 
you naked and make you squat, and bend, and spread?

Strange how attractive women alone in police stations seem 
particularly vulnerable to "procedure."  I remember reading 
one story where two women went to post bail for a male friend; 
they were searched, but the man who had been arrested was not.

"Procedure," I suppose.

It is clear from your account that the officer who searched you 
enjoyed doing it, as did the other cops who got to see you before 
and after.  Is it unreasonable to assume that their enjoyment (as 
much as your traffic ticket) triggered the search?

And although there are countless, endless things you could have 
done to avoid the search BEFORE it started (don't cross the yellow 
line, do pay the ticket on time, do bring a lawyer with you to the 
station), once it started, you were truly helpless to resist.

4) "The victim may consent to some or all of her search, and she 
might become aroused by some aspects of it.  But she should also 
find the whole procedure deeply and intensely humiliating."  CHECK! 
On one level you enjoyed the search, but you also found it deeply 
degrading and humiliating.  Congratulations, Ann -- you're the 
perfect victim.

5) "The victim should be powerful, successful, and intelligent.  
She should fully appreciate the injustice of the outrageous 
indignities she is subjected to.  If the victim tries to use her 
superior power or intellect to avoid stripping, she'll be thwarted 
by her inferiors."  This is an interesting one.  You mentioned that 
you didn't pay it for "uncharacteristic reasons," which implies 
that you are a responsible and well-organized person who made a 
simple mistake.  You had mentioned in another post that you had 
been on vacation, which implies that you had some disposable 
income, and the station was near where you worked.

Your reasoned, intellectual arguments "All this for a traffic 
ticket?" and, "Is this really necessary?" were batted away by 
(what was most likely) a low-level civil servant with a badge.    

You don't say what you did for a living, but it's obvious from 
your post that you are highly intelligent.  Do you think your 
intelligence and sophistication made you a more attractive target 
for the officers? 

When you were booked, did they ask where you went to school?  What 
you did for a living?  Did you get a sense that they enjoyed taking 
"a college girl" down a peg or two?   


Additional Questions

1) The "prison reality" shows on cable seems always to stop at the 
visual search.  They don't do the cavity searches unless there is 
some specific reason to think the perpetrator might have drugs or 
a weapon.  There was a show on TV last night that showed felons 
being admitted to two different prisons, and they got a visual 
search only, not a cavity search.  And these were hard-core felons, 
not traffic scofflaws!  However, they were also MEN.  Do you think 
you were given the "extra attention" because you were an attractive 
female? 

2) You mentioned the cop asking if you "enjoyed yourself."  Did any 
of the other cops make any comments to you about the search?

3) See my questions for 5) above.  Do you think the officer who 
strip searched you (and who obviously got off on it) saw your 
file, and therefore knew about your education level and general 
background?  Did you think there a "power reversal" aspect to it, 
where the officers enjoyed putting a pretty professional woman who 
was obviously NOT a criminal through a strip search?

4) You mentioned cardboard on the windows.  Do you think someone 
might have been able to see into the room, or that there might 
have been video cameras or one-way glass in the room?

5) Did you ever see any of the officers again, under different 
circumstances?  In my fantasy world, I imagine your meeting one 
of the officers at a school event, or community fund raiser, and 
having her give you a sly wink or a knowing smile.  Did you ever 
have any contact with the police, or that station house, again?  

6) Did you ever fantasize about going back to the station house 
again?  Did you ever consider confessing that your dog didn't 
have a license, and you wanted to check the rules with them to 
make sure you didn't get arrested?  (Ha-ha!) 

7) Presumably after your experience you talked with other people.  
In your account you wrote that the victims were "usually females, 
almost never men, which led me to the conclusion that, since most 
police are men (especially those in policy-making roles), they 
mostly do it because they get off on the idea of women going 
through this."  Did you ever hear any stories about how men who 
went to that station were treated under similar circumstances?  
Any stories about other women?  Going back to 1) just above -- do 
you have any anecdotal evidence that suggests that men were given 
a warning while women were given cavity searches?  

8) You don't describe the physical appearance of the cop that 
searched you.  Was she butch, or did you have any reason to think 
that she might be a lesbian?  Was she older, or heavy set, and, if 
so, do you think jealousy might have contributed to her obvious 
enjoyment in making a pretty young woman prance around naked?  

9) It's been a while since this happened.  Was there ever a strip 
search scandal in your town?

10) Did you ever have any other similar adventures?  

11) If you could star in a Joe Doe story, what is the scenario 
you'd like to play out?  Would you like to visit that station 
house again?  Take a tour of the jail?  What would the 
circumstances be?   Here's your chance!

Thanks again for posting, Anne!  I hope to see you at the new 
group, too.



Edited by C. Lakewood