To think that having a mammogram carried out by a man is preferable to a long wait for an appointment.

100% agree.

I have annual mammograms after a mastectomy and no way would i want a male handling my remaining breast. I've had two men conduct ultrasounds which was bad enough but didn't involve the same level of touch. I'm very happy for those who don't mind, but I really do. God knows I dread the appointment enough (purely because of what they might find) without added stress.

Just no.

Having a choice is the key thing here.

I wouldn't mind a male doing my mammogram, however, with my last baby I did refuse to have a male midwife, he was pretty put out by that, and later on I saw him helping a lady breastfeed, and I wouldn't have liked that either.

I think, for me, it depends on how vulnerable I feel in a situation. Going in for a routine mammogram, I wouldn't feel vulnerable, giving birth and the aftermath of that, I did.

There are a lot of people who would feel vulnerable with any kind of intimate exam or procedure by a man, and that's valid, and should be respected.

I doubt he'll do a great job of performing surgery on you if you ever find a lump, tbh

For me, the important questions are how would the choice of a male mammogram tech be communicated to the women attending for their mammograms, and would women who refused a male tech end up waiting longer for their mammograms - essentially being disadvantaged for their choice.

I do understand the arguments about male gynaecologists, nurses and midwives, but I appreciate the existence of a medical service that is aimed solely at women being staffed solely by women. I am not sure there is any particular benefit to women of having their mammogram done by a man, and would prefer the NHS to do more to recruit more women for the role, rather than just opening it up to men.

To be honest, I can see some men deciding to apply for this because they like the idea of manhandling women's boobs all day - not all of them, I'm sure, but if even a few slip through the net, that would be a bad thing.

A mammogram is not a pleasant experience anyway - do we really want to put in something else that would put some women off attending for their mammograms? Because like it or not, it would put some off. If I walked into the van and found a man there, I would not be happy - even if there was a chaperone.

In a world where the acronym TUBE (totally unnecessary breast examination) exists, I would be very uncomfortable with a male practitioner.

And obstetricians, midwives etc aren’t pulling and manipulating your privates?

A gynaecologist literally opens up your vagina and spreads you open with a speculum. I've also had examinations where they have to examine my 'privates' internally and externally with fingers. There is a lot of manipulating involved.

You probably wouldn’t say that if you got diagnosed wihh the breast cancer and the surgeon was male.

the only man I want handling my boobs is DH😃

Mammograms can involve quite a bit of contact, scooping boobs into the correct position and such like. I wouldn't feel at all comfortable with a man doing it.

Where are all the women who want to be radiographers coming from then?

It's not that an active choice is being made to train men over women. They train whoever applies and is suitable for the job.

If the UK is going to clamp down on immigration and underfund the NHS then jobs become less appealing and you have fewer people to do them. There is a recruitment crisis.

So women who are survivors of sexual violence shouldn’t have a choice? Or they would have to disclose that in order to justify their preference?

I am also a survivor of sexual assault and domestic violence.

As I said in my post - of course there are some women who will find it difficult to be treated by male clinicians. But you presented your experience of mammograms as a universal truth and implied that anyone who says they're no big deal can't possibly have ever had one. That's a very different thing from saying 'For personal reasons, I wouldn't want a man to perform a mammogram'.

Um there may well be unintentional manipulation of privates during birth depending on how the labour progresses and use of forceps, incision etc. Same with coil fittings where I was in quite a bit of pain and definitely felt it was being manipulated because they were having problems opening the cervix. Breasts aren’t the same as privates anyway and many of us don’t give a shit if they are manipulated.

Sorry to be clear we should be training up more women

They actually need to want to do the job. There are plenty of female radiographers so presumably they are not applying for the posts.
There is a workforce gap. It is not just a case of train the female chaperones - they may or may not have GCSEs, A-levels or the aptitude or interest in a degree in radiography and even after that, they may not want to be mammographers. Chaperones may be HCAs, student radiographers etc.

I’d have no problem with this and I’d rather have a male examiner so that a woman who does prefer a female examiner (for whatever reason) could have one. Given the choice I’d choose a woman but I’m amazed men aren’t allowed to do this. Imagine if only female doctors could deliver babies!

There isn't a queue of men waiting to do this job there is a shortage of radiographers so why should we train up women rather than men since that is what would best serve the needs of the population in this procedure.

Good job it’s not all about you then.

nope I would not go if it was a man

Informed consent, no surprises for routine screening should be the gold standard.

If a lump has been found, the follow-up to that is through a different service anyway isn’t it, with some male doctors potentially working there? There should still be informed consent with no surprises operating as a principle, plus female chaperones.

I love this. Well done for reflecting on your initial thoughts and being open minded to consider another point of view, and for sharing that. Rare to see online!

People are not good at thinking/ understanding the practicalities of managing matters like this.

Especially in the context of Brexit and all the people who are against immigration and hate tax raises, but want to have their pick of professionals from a nice big variety of demographics of their choosing.

You're not being asked "do you prefer a woman or a man?"

Obviously most women would choose a woman if given the option.

The question is "There are not enough women - do you prefer a man or do you prefer a long wait?"

People can't seem to get their heads around the fact that the number 1 option is not available in our current reality.

We are all saying there should be a choice to have a female mammographer. Just as there is for other procedures. Request a woman if it bothers you so much.
There’s a shortage. There aren’t loads of women who would love to be trained up to do this job.

@ItGhoul its my experience sorry it doesn’t match yours - if a man had been doing it, as a survivor of sexual abuse and domestic violence, I would have fled the room.

im not scaremongering I’m sharing how I felt.

You always get some people who react badly to procedures. I’m not sure it’s going to reassure women to go for their appointment if people go on about how extraordinarily invasive and degrading it is. Uncomfortable yes but for the vast majority of women it’s absolutely fine.
Some people also have horror stories about smears and screaming in pain, being clamped open with large metal implements etc whereas for most women it’s no big deal.