I stood there, an American citizen, sexually assaulted by a government official

Fight fire with fire. Sue the TSA and all its agents who performed the perceived insanity. A thousand (or million) court proceedings speaking against this would surely give the TSA a lot of headaches, that they would actually think of implementing something better in providing security for air travel.

I feel sorry for the Mom, who had to go through the ordeal and have to live with it everyday from this day forward. Though I feel more sorry for the kids who have been and who would be subjected to such grave abuse of authority.

Actually by definition there wasn't. What is a crime is defined by law (in the broad sense of the word). This woman was authorized by law to perform this search. Ergo, it's not a crime. (the fact that she wasn't informed doesn't change that).

A prison guard beating an inmate who is rioting with a night stick doesn't perform 'assault' on that inmate either. Again, because the guard is authorized to do so by law (within the limits thereof, obviously).

Now you may hold the opinion that in these cases, the touching is unlawful. It's within your rights to do so. It still doesn't make it so. Saying it is dilutes the meaning of the words used, words that we as a society have spend decades on refining to be as clear as possible. Then using there words in a different meaning to give your argument (opinion) more weight is not intellectually honest debate. That's what the OP was objecting to.

Sorry, I didn't intend to imply you said anything of the kind. It was meant to be a segue into "molesters have a new career path" and contrast this with doctors in general, not to put words in your mouth. Reading it now, I definitely see that I could have worded it better.

Regarding your later point, though, those practices aren't ok with me. When I was a teenager, I had some issues that I had to see a urologist about, and he asked me a couple times if he could check my prostate. I refused every time because I was uncomfortable with the procedure (yes, medically I probably should have, but that didn't factor for my 15-year-old-brain). Whether or not its sexual assault, or even assault at all, doesn't really matter. What matters is your perception, and what you would be ok with someone doing to you.

I've got a touch of RSI in my right hand. There is a very real possibility that somewhere in the next few decades I may need surgery for it, since I'm a programmer and arm/wrist abuse is pretty much par for the course. If I went for that surgery and was told "oh, and while I've got you under, I'm going to perform a prostate exam on you" then I'd definitely be looking for another doctor.

Everyone needs to have control over their own body, and there are limits to what we should have to endure. Having to choose between having nude photos taken of you, or having your genitals groped in order to travel around the country seems to be over the line of what I, and apparently many others, would deem acceptable.

I will not enter the United States because of this.

"Even prior to the passage of ATSA and the Federalization of the screening work force, Federal courts upheld warrantless searches of carry-on luggage at airports. Courts characterize the routine administrative search conducted at a security checkpoint as a warrantless search, subject to the reasonableness requirements of the Fourth Amendment. Such a warrantless search, also known as an administrative search, is valid under the Fourth Amendment if it is "no more intrusive or intensive than necessary, in light of current technology, to detect weapons or explosives, " confined in good faith to that purpose," and passengers may avoid the search by electing not to fly. [See United States v. Davis, 482 F.2d 893, 908 (9th Cir. 1973)].

While the searches at the airport will be conducted by private screening companies, such searches will continue to be subject to the Fourth Amendment requirements of reasonableness because they are conducted at the instigation of the federal Government and under the authority of federal statutes and regulations governing air passenger screening." --http://www.tsa.gov/what_we_do/optout/spp_faqs.shtm (search for "amendment")

"She felt along my waistline, moved behind me, then proceeded to feel both of my buttocks. She reached from behind in the middle of my buttocks towards my vagina area."

"She then felt my inner thighs and my vagina area, touching both of my labia."

If it's through clothing then it really sounds like nothing more than a thorough security search that I've experienced many times just to get into a night club. The person patting me down didn't tell me she was going to touch my testicles, but a portion of her hand did touch my testicles, through clothing mind you. Or to write in the above fashion:

"She wrapped her arms around my torso and felt up and down my back, then she bent at the knees so that her face was in very close proximity to my penis and put her hands on my buttocks, squeezing them and moving them up and down."

"She then moved her hands around to the front and inside of my thighs, touching each of my testicles."

The way it is written, and the fact that this woman feels so violated, I imagined this was all going on under the clothes. I don't see how a standard through clothing pat down could be traumatic, but I guess everybody has a different threshold for acceptable behaviour. I have to admit it is a bit jarring to have your sensitive bits jarred by a stranger, but this is not sexual assault given the context.

She was told she was going to be searched, and she was searched. There's no need to have disclosure about every specific part of your body that is going to be touched when you consent to a search. Yes, a hand my briefly come in contact with your labia through your clothing. That should be understood by most adults with common knowledge and experience.

If this woman truly feels violated in the same way that a sexual assult victim does, then I think her sensitivity threshold is abnormal. That's not her fault, nor is it anybody else's to be held accountable for.