Can we be honest about the need for affirmation?

Back to black people again Super

No, being against having a smear by a black woman would be racist. Being against having a smear by a black man would be reasonable.
Being against having a smear by a black transwoman would be for entirely the same reasons as my post above.

Your grasp of logic is tenuous, at best

I would preferred to be treated by a female.
I would consent to he treated by a man in some cicrumstances.

I would not consent to being treated by a TW.

So there are situations where you would consent to be treated by a man or woman, but not a trans woman?

That is clearly transphobic. There is no difference between that and not wanting to be treated by a black person. And of course racists also have the right to be treated by anyone they choose.

I think realistically, if a surgery has a TIM as a nurse or doctor, the onus is on the practice to insure patients are happy to be treated by them.

YY.

I question the motives of any medical practitioner who's both male and trans who actively seeks out a specialization that would lead to them routinely performing those kinds of procedures. It's a red flag.

Yes.

I think the wording needs to specify female rather than woman because "woman" will be interpreted to include TIMs. Also think it should be asked as standard any time a procedure where it might be relevant is booked (not just smears but breast exams and anything else intimate).

I question the motives of any medical practitioner who's both male and trans who actively seeks out a specialization that would lead to them routinely performing those kinds of procedures. It's a red flag.

I think realistically, if a surgery has a TIM as a nurse or doctor, the onus is on the practice to insure patients are happy to be treated by them. It shouldn't be up to a patient to assume that the nurse/doctor maybe transgender and specify female rather than woman, for example.

How that works when colleagues aren't supposed to know their trans status if they have a GRC, I don't know.

Actually, there was a male doc at the birth of my second child, without my permission. I arrived pretty much ready to birth and it was largely midwife led (and yes the 'wife' bit of that word still means fucking female), but a spotty wee goat then arrived, stood in the corner, and instructed an episiotomy.

Had I not been eating the gas and air tube, I might well have objected. Especially about the episiotomy. Or I might have taken some scissors to his fucking arse.

I will never forget the conversation about sewing me up and 'making sure there were two holes'.

I don't think you need to ask unless there's someone who performs smears that women may object to. Why shouldn't the default be that women perform smears?

'Do you have a preference of who performs your test'.

I would also take this as being a named person.

What’s needed is a direct question ‘do you require a female for this procedure?’ And at registration at a practice ‘do you prefer or require a female practitioner for examinations?’ Plus note on file.

If yes, a female provider is given as default. If no, the patient is reminded that at any point she has the right to request a different provider. All intimate exams should be chaperoned or offered to be chaperoned as standard.

This allows for pre planning as well. It should be win win for surgery and patient.

Exactly. Almost like women have no rights or say in the matter.

There's a fundamental dishonesty for a TIM to be presenting as a female for completing a smear test.

The implication is that the transperson 'passes'. If they do, and the woman does not notice (unikely) then where is the consent? If they don't, then the woman is in put in a postion where she either has to submit to it because she is too frightened/embarassed/intimidated to say no, OR say no and know that she is 'hurting someone's feelings', which women generally don't like doing.

And being judged as being a 'bigot'. Because she does not want a male human being shoving a speculum up her fanny and finding and scraping her cervix. The bigoted cow.

If it was a male doc or nurse it would be straightforward to say no, and noone would think you would be unreasonable (or a fucking bigot) for asking for a female.

This is sinister and coercive.

To take pressure off the woman, this should be something that’s asked of her well in advance, or perhaps even added to her file? When booking a smear for example, the person should ask ‘do you require a woman to perform this?’ Or when you register as a patient someone asks you - when we call your for smears, do you require a female HCP? It should also be made clear that even if a woman ticks no, she still has the right to refuse at any point

Absolutely agree.

shouldn't invade their shelters

I meant shouldn't invade women's shelters as shelters are for non-feminist women too. Proofreading is hard on hand-held devices.

I'm trying to imagine a situation where I would feel ok about a man or a trans woman doing my smear.

Where I am, smear tests are usually carried out by the practice nurse. I don't know if it's the same everywhere. I have health conditions that need regular reviews so I probably get to know the practice nurse better than those of you who are healthier.

I can imagine that if we had a nurse who was a man or a transwoman I might feel comfortable enough letting them do my smear, having met them numerous times previously for bloods etc, if I trusted them.

But I would expect them to at least ask whether I wanted one of the female doctors to do my smear instead - because a lack of acknowledgement of the potential problems would seem like a red flag to me.
So I guess the only way it would work for me is if the nurse can read my mind or something.

I always say 'I want a female nurse'. I expect that person to be female, not a transwoman

the patient could simply show up to the appointment and the receptionist could simply ask 'Do you have a preference of who performs your test'

If anyone asked me that - my response, as I have not got a menu of the options available to me, would be 'no'. I still would not want a trans woman performing my smear. This is not the right question to ask.

there are serious ethical issues around transwomen who are HCPs seeking validation from patients.

This is the crux of it. The HCP should be seeking nothing from the patient at all. To seek validation is wrong. To require validation is wrong. To involve the patient in a paraphilia when they do not consent - well that’s assault.

'Do you have a preference of who performs your test'.

I would take that as meaning a named person. I expect the receptionist to ask me if I was ok with a male performing the examination at the time of booking. If I specify a woman, I would expect a woman not a TIM as would the vast majority of the population.

I think the difficulty is that some people wouldn't mind a man doing it per se, but they would mind a TIM because of his complicated and disturbing relationship with women's bodies/his own male body could be perceived as a 'conflict of interest' - to put it mildly.

FortunateCookie - Lmao no problem... I suppose I should not have been so dim and figured out what you meant though!

In that case yes I agree with that patient comfort is paramount. And as I mentioned in my followup post, it seems that HCP (as per Poppyred85 said) that this is routinely asked of the patient.. though maybe it should be stressed more that it should be done.

As I mentioned, in the case of intimate exams such as a smear test trans status should be revealed. The trans person does not necessarily need to out themselves, the patient could simply show up to the appointment and the receptionist could simply ask 'Do you have a preference of who performs your test'. Thus keeping the status of any trans HCP confidential but also allowing the patient to express their wishes.

If TIM don't want to use men's shelters, the alternative isn't to use women's.

YY. If TIMs all said "actually, the feminists are right, we shouldn't invade their shelters but should make our own", I for one would be glad to chip a few bob to help them fund it.