Male obstetricians & gynaes

choccy I've worked with hundreds of dedicated make doctors. Clearly the experiences you've had were totally unacceptable behaviour. You can't tar everyone with the sand brush.

Well maybe I come from a different angle altogether. You see I was a detective inspector and once dealt with a male police surgeon who told me an alleged rape victim's fanny was so loose it was the equivalent of throwing a chip up a very wide street in my local town. Another male doctor who told me that he didn't question the bruising on a 20 month old male child's bottom because if he accused all parents of child abuse he wouldn't have any customers left. He didn't have that particular customer left because that child went on to be murdered. You think men are different because they wear scrubs or a white coat, fine. I will always have my doubts based on my life experience. sexual predators are master manipulators. Fact. I don't want to be subjected to them and I don't want my female relatives having to go to them either.

Every doctor I saw during child birth was male and they were excellent. Every midwife was female and were mostly making sympathetic voices but ignoring me. However .... I have refused smears by male nurses and opted for female. In pain and desperate : don't care and the men were actually better in my own personal experience. Routine and non emergency : don't want a strange man touching my private parts. Probably neurotic and sexist but hey ho

Male gynaecologists have been telling women for years that female genitalia is just another body part to them. If that's the case why wouldn't they give their own mothers a cervical smear test

I'm not sure many women doctors would examine their dad's penis of prostate.

It's not really is it? That's rather disingenuous.

I really don't care if I am treated by a male or female doctor. I certainly don't want a vaginal examination to be conducted by a close friend or relative.

It has never crossed my mind that I might be sexually assaulted by a male doctor during a gynaecological examination.
I've absolutely no preference either way, a Dr is a Dr.
When I had to have internal exams numerous times after a difficult birth it was with a male consultant but there was a female nurse in the room each time. I wouldn't have minded if not but I guess it's reassurance for the female patient and covers the Dr against allegations.
Also - if my son was an oncologist I wouldn't want him treating my cancer. I'd be worried they were too close to me to treat clinically. Same for gynae. Or GP practice.

Correction body part. Is it?

But it's just another body part ? Why not ? Because it isn't just another big day part. Is it ?

Male gynaecologists have been telling women for years that female genitalia is just another body part to them. If that's the case why wouldn't they give their own mothers a cervical smear test

Possibly because their mothers might not want it?

If I still lived in the village I grew up in there is a possibility smears would be done by a female school friend. I would not want her to do them. I certainly would not want my son , if he were a doctor, or for that matter my hypothetical daughter.

The one I went to was a standalone NHS clinic. I was referred by my gp but it wasn't part of my gp's surgery.

Mine was an NHS one. It seems to have morphed into Lothian NHS Sexual Health Service which doesn't seem to me the same thing at all. By quite a long way.

Period problems have nothing to do with sexual health. Looking at the specific website I see sections , for example, on a gender identity clinic and a special clinic for "women involved in the commercial sex industry" and no section at all relating to non-sexual gynaecological issues.

Elendon, GP surgeries used to do Well Woman clinics, they don't any more.

Either EA or Hysterectomy. I'd plumb for the EA. I never knew the NHS did Well Women clinics, but my Well Woman clinic which I went to privately when I was working was as much use as a chocolate fire guard. I didn't pay for it.

How where your heavy periods solved Lass?

Endometrial ablation. The NHS Well Women clinic never suggested it. They suggested that hormone implant thingy which sounded scary and were very iffy when I asked if it could be removed early if it didn't suit me The male gynaecologist saw me as a private patient.

Endometrial ablation is not an option if you want future pregnancies but I didn't.

How where your heavy periods solved Lass?

My problem with it is not at all to do with the sex of the consultant but rather the medicalisation of women and women's bits. Because we all fall apart at some point in our lives and we must a. spend our own money to fix it or b. go to someone else who will profit from it.

Men have such sturdy bits and are never controlled by their hormones. Most urinary consultants are men, because most urinary problems are male.

No I'm not saying men cannot be competent or caring when it comes to dealing with women. I am saying that the chances are you will have no idea about the dictors history or competence when you attend your appointment and if you want to take away or completely negate the chance of being sexually abused when you are being intimately examined, you should choose women practitioners.

I was offered female only doctors/midwives with my son due to my history. I declined.

Oddly enough I prefer men because when women find out what happened to me one of two things happens, either it's dismissed and I'm essentially told I need to "put my big girl pants on" even if I haven't raised it (i.e. them reading my notes) or they became too nice, patting my hand, trying to hug me etc and essentially treating me as a victim which is the last thing I want.

Men on the other hand (in my experience so far), having first discovered whether I'm okay with whatever they're doing get on with it without the blaming me, making me feel awkward or trying to hug me stages.

Complete non issue for me although the all female staffed Well Women clinic I attended re very heavy and very frequent periods were hopeless , problem was solved by male gynaecologist.

Would we be better off with mostly female consultants in this area? Would you go to a hospital/ clinic entirely staffed by women? Do you think women drs listen to women more?

Yes, yes, maybe.

I am one of the people who are unlikely to seek help for annoying, but survivable health issues because in the hospital system, there is no consideration for women's privacy.

Even if the male doctor is perfectly nice, I don't want my private parts looked at by random males. And if the door is open and any male can just walk in - really, no one need complain that women don't go to the hospital to give birth.
(I'd try and bear the pain rather than have my privacy violated, too. I'd want pain relief, but if that's only accessible at the cost of having my boundaries violated, I'd make a choice)

I have no problem with male gynecologists as such. They can treat all women who book appointments with them, no problem. But to have them in a hospital and forced on any woman who gives birth there - no.

(And I'd much prefer to have a 100% female team for more or less any surgery that requires me to be partially unclothed. I had my wisdom teeth removed by a mostly male team, and that was okay, but if I had to have my appendix removed, ugh, no.)

Well you responded. Maybe others will too😊

ZOMBIE THREAD

choccylab, why did you bump a thread from 5 years ago? Might be better to start a new thread, as many posters may not be around to respond after this long a gap.

"no... but you expect a female dr to be more sympathetic to period or childbirth problems.. but their not. how a male dr can empathise with heavy painful periods I don't know.. same as we can't empathise with prostate or impotence issues for example.."

But what if you've got a broken arm, but your doctor has never broken a bone? Or you have cancer and they've never experienced it? I don't want my doctor to empathise with me or tell me how they've experienced it and yeah it's horrible, I want them to diagnose and treat me.

There has been a long history of men in obstetrics and gynaecology. But should they be involved in women's intimate care?
There are lots of posts on this forum about why women shouldn't be sexist and gender doesn't matter when it comes to their gynaecologist. Well, in my experience of the NHS you are not given a choice of the gender of your practitioner.

However, studies do show that if women are given a choice only a very small percentage would choose a male over a female. The largest percentage would choose female and the remainder don't mind either way.

Women don't know who their male gynaecologist is. What complaints have been made against him in the past and there is no end of 'respected' male gynaecologists being found guilty of indecent assaults on patients after years of practicing and women patients proclaiming him as marvellous.

All of the sexual allegations investigate by the GMC last year were against men. In 2017 more than half of all female medics in UK will be female. None of them have sexual allegations made against them.

As far as sex offenders go, depending on victim preference it is a well known strategy that sex offenders (again mainly men) choose occupations that will give them more or less unrestricted access to their preferred victim type. Think of recent scandals in the Catholic Church, football coaches in the UK. if your preferred victim type is an adult female what better job than being a gynaecologist? A patient thinks she was being groped, he says he was being thorough. VERY difficult to prove otherwise and women being women blame themselves, don't want to seem a prude or are over reacting. Eventually one victim comes forward and is believed and there is an avalanche effect with numerous victims coming forward. DOnt forget DR Shipmans patients loved him.

Male gynaecologists have been telling women for years that female genitalia is just another body part to them. If that's the case why wouldn't they give their own mothers a cervical smear test. bet they would look at a cut on her knee though, if she asked. THey have told women this because it ensures compliance.

Women if you get a choice, choose female. If something inappropriate or weird happens when you are being examined by a male gynaecologist, report it. You might save a lot of women coming after you a lot of pain , mainly emotional.