To wonder why men work in gynecology?

[CustardC]

Genuine question, my sisters and I were discussing our most recent smear tests and sister 1 commented on how her nurse was male. I've always asked for a female when I book a smear or any type of gyne issues and it's always been respected, but it got me thinking...if there are any men here who work in that field, why?

I'm fully prepared for the backlash that ill probably get but honest question👍

I hope the poster who's son is helping "bring life into the world" or "creating life" (can't remember exactly what you said), reminds her offspring that there is a woman involved in this- he is not the hero in this story!

The consultant who performed my emergency section and saved my baby was absolutely the hero in my story.

@sushi7 - it's not disgusting though, is it?

What's disgusting is the way you're calling her disgusting for quite rightfully saying she doesn't want men involved in her medical care, based on previous assaults.

What's disgusting is that women get assaulted. What's disgusting is that people like you berate someone for having valid feelings and significant trauma.

And what's really disgusting is that 98% of sexual assaults are committed by men, and many women carry the burden of those assaults their entire life, and yet here you are berating a woman for expressing a right to choose a same-sex health provider.

Grow up.

@luxxlisbon the only hero in my birthing suite was me. Everyone else was doing their job.

Which is fine for you. I’m just saying the poster doesn’t speak for every woman.

I get that- but it's not the point
I'm sorry, I just can't articulate well
I have no doubt that your surgeon was awesome- well done, surgeon, he's doing his job, which he's perfectly entitled to do
men have been doctors for centuries- inevitably they will have a high profile in most disciplines-but I sincerely hope there's a shift away from men in intimate female care- leave it to the women
I appreciate that it won't happen overnight but I cannot stomach male midwives/breast-care nurses etc, areas that have plenty of female staff- it's incredibly insensitive- the female patient is clearly not front and centre. this is not equality, it's immaturity or entitlement, neither of which is great
I had an EC with my first come to think of it and docs were male in the main- brilliant job that they did too- but I remember wondering if my nether regions were exposed- they probably weren't, but even then I had a niggle! i'd forgotten that, one of the many things shoved to the back of my mind
had all the docs been female- that experience would have been so much better- but I don't criticise the men for being there- there are centuries' old, institutional reasons for this
one day the penny will drop for you, I guarantee- I suspect your children are young at the moment- but if you have a girl, as she grows up, becomes a teenager- you'll get it by then

Mine too, it was Christmas Day and I don't know who he was, he wasn't my Consultant as he wasn't working that day. I just remember the alarms going and this man walking in, looking at the situation and in seconds saying "We're going to theatre now." My husband didn't even get to speak to me, he was left standing there as the bed was grabbed and they ran. The anaesthetist was also lovely, I was panicking as I had been drinking and even eating during labour and he said, "Don't worry, I'm going to put my hands on your throat so you can't inhale anything, don't worry I'll keep you safe." and he was true to his words. I had to have a GA as there wasn't time for an epidural.

Two men whose names I don't even know, I could walk past them in the street and never know them but they did the most wonderful thing that anyone could have done for me.

Oh don’t be ridiculous one day the penny will drop for you

You don’t need to belittle or invalidate other women’s opinion to build up your own. Ironic that you speak about equality when that is what you jump to.

I don’t agree with “leave it to the women” and I don’t see any logical reason why I would change my mind when my DD is a teenager.

I have no problem with a women preferring care from a woman but I fundamentally don’t agree that it is merely ‘entitlement or immaturity’ for a man to be in that sector.

I’m not invalidating your desire to request female care so why do you feel the need to be patronising to me? My feelings are not wrong.

I sincerely hope there's a shift away from men in intimate female care- leave it to the women

What about women who want to request males for their own reason? My experiences has been that any female gynae I've dealt with has been dismissive, cold, invasive. Male gynaes were kind, gentle, got the job done and actually explained things clearer to me. That is only my experience, and I know and respect that others may have experienced the opposite.

You said but if you have a girl, as she grows up, becomes a teenager- you'll get it by then. I have a baby girl, my main concern for her would be that she gets the best care available with best practice, I don't care if that's by a man or a woman. Surely that won't change throughout her life?

You don't know they will feel the same one day. It is incredibly arrogant to say that. I'm old and I'm as happy to be seen by a competent doctor, male or female, now as I was 60 years ago. You have a right to say you want to be treated by a woman and I have a right to say I want to be treated by the best person available regardless of their sex.

I say that as someone who was sexually assaulted by a doctor when I was a child, I didn't even understand what had happened until years later. The feeling of betrayal was strong, he was my mum's GP when she was expecting me, he was my doctor from before I was born but that was him and in no way do I think all male doctors are like that. I've seen some doctors I wasn't happy with, male and female, the same with nurses but I've seen far more who were fantastic.

You have every right to feel uncomfortable you have no right to say that all women will feel the same when they are older.

The cleaners were the heroes for my son's birth.

but if you have a girl, as she grows up, becomes a teenager- you'll get it by then

I have two who are in their 20s. I still don't agree.

Yes it is the patronising and arrogant attitude that we just haven't reached their level of enlightenment yet.

My DD is in her 30s and I just want her to have first class medical treatment.

I think the work cleaners do in hospitals is undervalued.

A male consultant performed my embryo transfer for me. I have to say I didn’t feel a thing - not something I can say for any time I’ve had a female nurse do internal scans or smear tests!

If I were a woman training in medicine, I might want to go into ovs/gynae because it's interesting, varied, etc, but I don't know if I'd be happy if I felt pushed into it because men weren't allowed to do it.

I had an internal exam at the GP last year, and they advised me to book with one of the female GPs - it's a large practice with a number of male and female doctors. I'm registered with one of the male ones, but I'll see whoever is available usually. It wouldn't have bothered me to see a male GP (and he's looked at my bits in the past for a different matter,) but I wasn't given a choice, and I did wonder how the women GPs felt about being expected to deal with any gynaecological appointments. Didn't ask, though, and she then quizzed me about menopause, which wasn't why I was there, so she's certainly made it her specialism, whether or not she felt she had a choice in it. Maybe the male GP gets sick of having to deal with all the enlarged prostates. The gynae consultant at the hospital I was referred to was a man.

But I still wonder that some women medics feel pushed into it, and I'm not comfortable with that if they are.

I had a daughter as a result of that embryo transfer (that consultant is my hero). I’d be happy for her to receive care from a male physician, as long as she is happy to.

How patronising and offensive. Ugh.

I wondered that about paediatrics when one of my children was having hospital care 50 years ago. Lots of female doctors who quite frankly were hopeless with him, then I had to take him in when he had worrying symptoms after surgery. He was frightened and in pain and his experience of hospital wasn't great.

A man walked into the examination room, he was built like the proverbial brick outhouse and by the state of his nose and ears I reckon he was probably a rugby player or boxer. He was wonderful, won my little one over in minutes, was fantastically gentle and sorted everything out, his change of treatment was a big improvement and meant we didn't need to go back to the hospital again until a regular appointment (at that point we had been attending as an emergency two or three times a week.)

He was clearly cut out to work with children but he didn't look the part like all the nice young women and I wondered if his choice of speciality had been questioned.

Looking at the NHS competition ratios for 2021, obs/gyn is one of the most competitive specialities in terms of applications per place.

Provided that women have the option not to be seen by a male gynaecologist, which they do, I'm not really sure why male gynaes are so contentious. Those who've had bad experiences should absolutely be able to see a female gynae, but this thread also shows lots of us are indifferent as to whether they're male or female, provided they're kind and good at their job.

I doubt all female med students want to specialise in obs/gyn so it seems a positive that's it's sufficiently popular amongst both male and female doctors to be well staffed.

I absolutely agree that there should be a choice and can understand why some women may be happy with, or even prefer, a male gynaecologist or obstetrician. Unfortunately, there isn’t always a choice in labour as it’s dependent upon who is on shift. If I had had to have a man deliver my child, given my own prior traumatic experiences, and given that I was in the most vulnerable position of my life, I don’t think I would ever have got over that. I’m not really sure what the answer is, as it’s a resource issue. But, there’s no getting away from the fact that it’s a horrific thing for many women to have no choice as to who penetrates your vagina. I wish there was more understanding of this, instead of the ‘surely it doesn’t matter as long as they’re the best person for the job’ and ‘they’ve seen a million lady parts before, there’s nothing special about yours’, or even the ‘don’t be so sexist’ narrative that seems so prevalent.

You should quote my entire post rather than taking it out of context. I said it’s within her rights to choose a female doctor, but it’s disgusting that she thinks male gyanes and nurses went into the profession for ‘perverse’ reasons. I also mentioned that I’ve been a victim of SA a few times. I won’t engage further with you because you didn’t read my entire post on the page just before this.

@Sushi7 You're misquoting her.

She actually said "a range of reasons, from the patrician to the perverse" which is a reasonable comment and really not disgusting at all.

Some of them do it for perverse reasons, as court records, news reports and personal stories on this thread alone prove.

My point is that what is really disgusting is that we live in a world where women have to worry about a medical professional being a total creep and abusing his power. I have had three sleazy doctors that I can recall.

None of them were women. I'm sure that all three still have thriving practices and when a woman comes out and says "can I have a female doctor next time" the receptionists simply give each other a knowing look and arrange it without question. Powerful men get protected by everyone.

Now that is disgusting.

I had to have a male doctor perform a vaginal exam in labour and it was horrible, it was one of those situations where it had to be done and there wasn’t a female dr available so I just had to suck it up and get on with it for the sake of me and baby, but it still really effected afterwards and I found it horribly traumatic.

Quite