Smear appointment reminder with a Mx

Age maybe but not gender surely? Unless youre looking for jobs like bricklayers or IT

I do know Keri and I can assure you that she is female

This is very conclusive of the receptionist. At this point, you're making an issue out of nothing. Fair enough to check in the first place but now you're overwblowing this.

But that isn’t really the point is it? Having a male doctor examine you, secure in the knowledge that you can request the presence of a female chaperone if you feel uncomfortable in any way, without anyone questioning it or taking it amiss, is one thing. Being intimately examined by someone who is pretending to be something they aren’t is another thing entirely. How would you know whether they were a post-op transsexual or an AGP chancer who was getting a cheap thrill out of having a crafty fiddle with you? No woman should ever be expected to validate any man’s sexual fetish and I’d go completely batshit crazy if I ever thought that there was any attempt to deceive or gaslight!

Re the comments about “Dr” being gender neutral : at our large GP practice the Doctors all have “male” or “female” after their name to clarify for patients as many of the names are Hindi, Urdu or Sri Lankan so the pats weren’t instinctively sure who was what.

But I suppose a trans doctor would note the gender they now identify with, so that wouldn’t have helped the OP.

All the practice nurses are noted Miss, Ms or Mrs (but again if they were biologically male identifying as female they would just select whatever title they liked).

If it was an intimate procedure and the doctor's sex was unclear, I'd be ringing to clarify. So no different to what the OP did.

That's crazy even our gp surgery all the staff have female or male written next to them for anyone who has a preference

That won’t work. A female clinician could be a transwomen

You would need to say something more specific like biological female.

You can say you will only see a female at Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre. What you can't say is "what sex is Geraldine" or what ever. They are not allowed to share that information with you.

I reckon there's a strong chance that whoever put the nurse onto their text reminder computer system just never put their gender/sex in and that's what the automated system uses by default. My clinic letters say MISS with my full name including my middle name which I hate but it can only be rectified through a lengthy beurocratic process by someone in a distant department who I have no way of contacting

The rape crisis team where I live only hire women.

An idea.

if you're unsure, email the surgery and say "I have a smear booked on x date at x time. Could you confirm that I will be seeing a female clinician for this please"

We have a Mx, who is female, looks female and sounds like it. It seems to be the Mx is only related to who she likes to sleep with.

You can advise that you don’t want to see a particular doctor or nurse without having to give a reason. You don’t need to run away crying, just ask to rebook the appointment with somebody else. There are two doctors at my GP surgery - one male, one female - who I just don’t think are very good doctors / we don’t see eye to eye, so I don’t see them. It’s never been an issue.

Yes, I can see this point…how much better though if we could just have a check box to tick at online appointment or reception to say we need a same sexed practioner and it to mean biological….
jeez, it did used to work that way when you asked for a “ lady doctor”

Non-binary males tend to use "Mx".

You do know that lesbians have smears too? I doubt very much lesbian nurses are getting off on carrying out smears.

To add, smears are not just for heterosexually active women. If you have a cervix you need smears.

Can't give you the numbers, but I've seen a few on social media. In real life, I subbed for a male teacher who went by "Mx".

Exactly, I just think this whole "gender critical" is just a way of keeping women in their traditional boxes.

Zero probably.

They might not get judged on their gender but they’ll get judged for using Mx, so seems a bit pointless.

What would a non-binary "male" use? The Eurovision winner Nemo is non-binary - I'd get a right land if they rocked up to do my smear!

Ms has been around since at least the 1700s.
Its not new

It’s the same as saying Mr. ie neither identifies married status but both identify whether you are male or female ( or at least they used to )

'doctors' genders should be spelt out clearly to patients'

Staff gender beliefs about themselves are irrelevant to women who need someone of the same sex to carry out an intimate procedure. This is about biological sex, not religious beliefs about gender.

if someone is a trans man or trans woman, they would more than likely use the suffix appropriate to their chosen gender. Mx is unlikely to be trans.

I agree with you whole heartedly - but legally I thought people were on shaky ground if they asked about biological sex. Isn't it deadnaming and such like?

So we should all use Miss or Mrs? And declare our marital status to all?