Why Do men become gynocologists?

[Blankiefan]

I have to have some treatment and all of the gynocologists I can pick from are men. I don't trust male gynocologists (no bad history just bias). It'd help me to understand good reasons why some men choose this specialism.

As I see it, I have an ear so I can understand what it's like when someone pokes their finger in it. I get the experience of having an ear and have an interest in furthering medicine into it. Buy why are male doctors interested in women's genitals? Is it some deep respect for their mothers? A peculiar interest in otherness? I don't see the motivation.

I entirely accept on an intellectual level that most of them aren't in it for kicks and that being elbow deep in hoo hoo all day isn't erotic but I really don't get what motivation got them there.

Does anyone have any insight?

My friend (a gay man) who is a gynaecologist and obstetrician said that he was drawn to it because you get to see patients at every point in the cycle of life.

I wonder if any female gynaes have ever dyed their patient's vulva purple as a joke "for her husband".

You do realise that gynaecology isn't just looking at fannies all day don't you OP?

Sorry, I haven't RTFT but I read somewhere that doctors can be terrible hypochondriacs.
Male gynaecologists are dealing with a part of the body that they don't have and therefore won't fear getting the same complaints.

I’m a female doctor. I haven’t asked this of my male gynae colleagues but one of our lecturers definitely gave the impression that he wanted to be a bit of a hero. I think he liked the idea of championing women and freeing them of women’s problems like painful periods. I think he wanted to be a kind of protector. If that makes sense?

@SpamChaudFroid a quick google brings up many news articles about dodgy male gynaes

For pretty much any reason they like. It’s really bizarre logic - do you require that your vet be a dog?

Some reasons that obs & gynae is a highly sought after field of medicine include:

• unlike other specialties it allows for a high rate of surgery without specialising purely as a surgeon and still seeing the medical side too.
• it’s a varied specialty - whilst remaining in your field you can cover anything from oncology to delivering babies.
• if you specialise in obstetrics then you are part of largely positive outcomes and get to take part in the most special day of people’s lives
• the female reproductive system is more complex and interesting than a man’s, so if you want to be a part of reproductive and infertility medicine, it’s the more exciting specialism
• there are a higher proportion of women’s cancers than men’s cancers so in oncology terms you see more variety of caseload

When I had ovarian cancer, my oncologist\gynae surgeon was fantastic and yes he was a man. He was approachable, caring and dedicated.

I really don't think it matters what gender someone is to be a great doctor.

I know a male gynaecologist. He is intelligent, kind, empathetic, conscientious and has always been ambitious. The website for his private clinic is full of words like "bespoke" and "discreet" and there are reassuringly expensively taken photos of his reassuringly good looking self. He has a very pleasant manner suited to soothing posh women about how he is going to successfully stick their pelvic floors expensively back together.

The women get listened to and don't have to wait on the NHS to be continent again, my acquaintance coins it and doesn't have to work nights and weekends pulling babies out of poor people, so he has more time to play golf at expensive clubs. Everyone's happy.

I had a male obstetrician who led on the birth of my twins. It was the perfect delivery and it was the midwives who did the delivery he was watching the monitors and directing the team.

neonglow oh come on, that’s not what has happened here.

I will absolutely defend a woman’s right to receive healthcare from a same-sex HCP if they feel more comfortable. I do not think that should translate into implying men who wish to go into this field are all getting some sort of sexual gratification from it.

My father's prostate oncologist is female. She doesn't have a prostate herself, yet has no trouble at all treating those who do...

Wow - Such a depressing thread. Last week I had a surveyor come to my property, and it was a .... woman... I should have asked her why she did not become a nurse or a secretary

Don't be so patronising towards the OP. The surveyor presumably came to inspect your property not examine your genitalia.

I think the OP asks a valid question and it's been interesting to read the responses of those who've engaged with it rather than trying to prove how woke they are.

FFS, the OP asked Avery reasonable question and maybe if posters could give over with their accusations of bigotry, they might actually realise that it was lead to some really interesting answers. Why do people feel the need to shout NAMALT at every woman that makes any comment or asks any questions about why a man does something. waits for all the ‘if the sexes were reversed’

Maybe the question being asked and the sensible answers given by some posters, will lead to some concerned women being reassured. When the day comes that men aren’t the main perpetrators of sexual crimes against women, the question won’t need to be asked. I was sexually assaulted by a male doctor when in my teens, so yes, although most of them are decent men. there are some who go into it for nefarious reasons.

I choose a brilliant female gynaecologist for any of my intimate examinations but was happy enough for a male to do my hysterectomy, because I knew there would be other trained staff in the theatre at the time. That’s my right to do so and thank goodness the health service tries its best to give us that choice.

there are reassuringly expensively taken photos of his reassuringly good looking self.

Erm...what has his looks got to do with his abilities?

Not assuming that all male doctors are perverts is NOT being woke! This place is absolutely nuts.

The OP should derided for her ignorance and bigotry not applauded for 'raising important questions' Encouraging women to approach the world as though they are about to be assaulted at any moment even in a healthcare environment is not healthy and not helpful.

Another doctor here, I'm actually hoping to go into Obstetrics and Gynaecology and I would imagine that men are drawn to it for similar reasons I am. I think this is an attitude brought on by a lack of awareness about what the specialty actually involves. Also evidenced by the fact that people think it's a 9-5 job, fairly easy and better paid than other specialties... that is not the case (sadly!)

Personally I want to go into it because whereas most specialties are either medical or surgical, O&G is a mix of the two. It's a really varied, challenging specialty, and very hands-on, so you're not just sitting behind a computer typing all day, you get to physically do and hopefully fix things. Plus you work with women all throughout their lives, so you have a mixture of young and old patients (this is fairly unusual as in a lot of hospital medicine you work mostly with elderly patients) and the nature of the work itself is really rewarding.

If anyone is interested in what O&G actually involves on a daily basis, a doctor who posts on instagram under the name GynaeGeek did an overview last week of what she did on each day, she was everywhere from labour ward to theatres to clinic! Really interesting stuff.

I do wonder why male gynaecologists choose that speciality when they know that it will make some women uncomfortable. No one ever gives you the choice about seeing a male rather than female gynaecologist so I can imagine that many women don't say anything even though they would really like to.
I used to work in a hospital where a large number of women wouldn't see a male gynaecologist and my friend (a female gynaecologist) reckoned the men liked working there because they had less work than they would have done if they had chosen another speciality.
I'm sure the great majority don't get sexual gratification from it but having been sexually assaulted by a GP many years ago I think those posters use assume it never happens are naïve to say the least.

Encouraging women to approach the world as though they are about to be assaulted at any moment even in a healthcare environment is not healthy and not helpful

Not one person has encouraged women to approach the world like that, however some have had experience of victimisation at the hands of male medical staff, so why shouldn’t they be wary? When the majority of sexual assaults of females is not longer committed by males and there are no longer stories of females being assaulted by male medical staff then we can cease being wary. Men assaulting women even in a healthcare environment is not healthy and not helpful.

Maybe men should deal with other men who are abusive to women and stop telling women they’re silly for being cautious.

It's not just the perverted man doctors who specialise obs/gynae. It's also lesbian lady doctors who love looking at fannies all day. This is a time of equal opportunities people, don't be so closed minded!

Is that you Jo Swinson? However convenient it might be for some, one thing that's not equal opportunities is the risk of sexual assault from a random male as opposed to a random lesbian.

I highly doubt most male gynaecologists have gone into it for weird sexual kicks (though the figure is probably not zero either...) but unless male gynaecologists and lesbian gynaecologists are statistically very different from males and lesbians in the general population, if you're looking at the risk to women generally, it isn't from lesbians.

This is not a “not all men are like that” situation, or people proving their “woke credentials”. If this was started by a woman uncomfortable about being examined by a male; or someone who had been assaulted by a male doctor, the replies would have been very different. The OP asked why men would go into the field, others have provided sensible reasons; and others have implied that men must get some sort of thrill from the power they have over women.

Several members of my family are senior doctors and their collective position is that male gynaes are broadly split into two camps - those for whom it is a genuine area of interest and vocation (sometimes for personal reasons), and those who don't like women and enjoy the power trip. My grandfather (whose training/medical experience was the most extensive) was particularly insist on this point.

He did say that the latter group were a minority, but a substantial one. He also said it was often quite detectable to other doctors and patients when a gynaecologist fell into that camp.

Yes I would've thought a power trip would be more common than an actual sexual kick.