Late to the party for this one but my only thought is..... she had to know any kind of body metal was going to set off the alarm. So why put yourself in this position? It just seems to be asking for trouble at some point. Perhaps it could have been handled differently but why let it come to that?

For example...My wife use to wear costume jewelry thru the security gates all the time until the TSA got employed. After the 2nd flight and alarm after alarm she decided to pack her jewelry in a small bag to avoid the problems. She recognized that somewhere along the line it was going to hold up going thru the gate so why not make it easy for all concerned.

Weather a person agrees with body decoration or not is not the issue. Everyone knows how difficult it can be to get thru security considering the climate of airline security. With that in mind a few questions come to mind.

Why would a person make it difficult for themselves to pass thru security?
Wouldn't it be prudent to be prepared for problems before they occur?
Why be difficult when ask to comply with the removal of the items if they fall within the guidelines of TSA compliance.

The logical conclusion in my mind is that this passenger could have done more to prevent this from happening.

There is also the question of what this passengers attitude was during this process. Attitude often determines how others will respond to any given situation but even under the most challenging situations a mild temper usually wins the day. Especially when it comes to dealing with people who have been given a measure of authority.

In the long run it's better to let these self appointed chest beating Robo cops have their 10 minutes of glory rather that give yourself a bad day.

__________________
"What you hear in a great jazz band is the sound of democracy. “The jazz band works best when participation is shaped by intelligent communication.”
Harmony happens whenever different parts get to form a whole by means of congruity, concord, symetry, consistency, conformity, correspondence, agreement, accord, unity, consonance…….