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👍

@Aussiegirl123456 But if it was a woman who had done and said that to you, would you insist on men only from then on? I doubt it. A woman could have done exactly the same to you, you can't tar all men with the same brush.

I can see the female reproductive system and obstetrics are interesting. If I were really interested in prostates I wouldn’t see being female as a bar to it.

But, I’ve seen a couple of male gynaes and it was awkward and they were a bit crap and missed stuff that later female gynae picked up straight away.

Don’t feel that way about any other kind of doctor.

To them it will just be body parts same as a cardiologist or neurologist.

You'll get sone abusive healthcare staff in all specialities.

There are lots of female and gay male nurses in sexual health clinics. Obviously just there to see cock 🙄

I think the OP's posts are regressive, reactionary and anti-male.

I'm sure most are fine, but I can't help but doubt that some don't enjoy looking at an attractive woman's vagina. I suppose they become desensitised to it.

Saying that, I'm straight, but I wouldn't want to spend my days looking at any random bloke's dong.

Do you think they do it so they can look at vaginas all day?! I’ve been under the care of two make gynaecologists and two male consultants for my ivf and all of them have been fantastic - especially the doctor who did my hysteroscopy with the most gentleness and care I’ve been given, along with trying to make me laugh during the appointment.

I imagine there’s a real interest there due the the broad spectrum of issues that can happen with a female reproductive system and the chance to go into surgery.

This is quite a silly question because to a doctor the majority of body parts are just body parts. A vagina isn’t very different to a thumb or lung. I had an ob gyn who was male and was recommended by my female friend who had trained under him. He said that it is a wonderful area of medicine to be in because women birthing babies is one of the only positive and joyful areas of medicine! Makes sense to me. His wife is also an on gyn and they have four kids.

This is not an original thread to Mumsnet

Lots of genuine reasons.
Generally, there is more need, work and thus training spots than in a lot of the other specialties so an easier specialty to get into. If it’s that or no specialty it’s a no brainer.
Most would be ob/gyn but I have known quite a few to go straight gyn after the hard graft with the unpredictable hours of the ob stuff. So it’s a specialty where you have good earning potential to set you up and then when you age, kids are through uni you can essentially step back to a more leisurely gyn only load with reasonable and sociable hours that also allows for dropping of days and transition to retirement (which the ob load would not allow).
Lots of things that make it a desired specialty logistically.

But, I suspect none of that suits OP’s narrative that male gynae’s are some weird sex beasts that assault women. There are bad apples in every profession, and in the medical profession bad apples in every specialty so I can’t say there never has been or never will be a bad apple in gynae but in the main men in that specialty are no more interested in your bits and bobs sexually than they are the Sunday crossword. I have always chosen a male gynae as whenever I have needed someone I wanted the most technically competent person available and at those times, as it would happen, they were male.

In my personal experience, the male specialists I’ve seen have been far better than the female. In my experience it’s felt like the men have had to work harder and simply be better than their female counterparts in order to be taken at all seriously. The women dismissed me entirely, had no idea what they were talking about and were, honestly, awful. Save for one man who was bad, all the other men were much much much better. Just my personal experience though.

I’d imagine some men specialise in that field for the same reasons that young doctors specialise in geriatrics, or infertile women specialise in maternity care, people with no history of addiction specialise in addiction… money, chance opportunities, progression options, location of jobs, genuine interest, loss of/impact on a friend or family member… How much does your career relate to you personally?

I'm from the Caribbean and there they deliver babies. My grandfather was one and delivered me and my siblings 🙂

So I can definitely see an interest in childbirth!

Lots of women gynaecologist go off on maternity leave and have career breaks to look after children so if you want to get on in your career I imagine its more easily achieved than other areas of medicine. I also believe the men and women just fall into their medical path just like no child sets out to work in ‘insurance’ it’s just something you fall into.

Maybe Ob/Gyns enjoy working mainly with young healthy patients during what is (hopefully) one of the happiest times of their lives?

I did find it weird to be treated by a male gynaecologist at first, but the two male doctors who’ve treated me were very gentle, considerate and easy to talk to, so I got used to it pretty quickly.

Yes, imagine someone so depraved they'd go to the lengths to become a medical doctor just to do that 😩

And yes there are those in the medical profession who have abused their power and even killed patients, but I wouldn't assume say that women only become nurses to kill old people and babies

Actually my dh wanted to. He began the relevant study but changed course because of the views people may hold.

His interest was a mixture of academics and becoming a father at 18, and the brother of someone who had cancer care. He believed he could do well, and it was interested in the study. It was an area of huge potential improvements and ways forward. You could make big changes, big improvements, compared to other areas of medicine it was pretty neglected- so that was part of the academic interest. The other was the machine potential use. But then also an urge to improve for women close to him.

I think he’d have been very good, he’s a decent, gentle guy but very matter of fact too. He’s happy doing what he did instead completely- just for the sake of answering the OP questions

trying to extrapolate from his own experience - I think that’s it. I think extrapolating isn’t always helpful, because we don’t all have the same experiences (even among women). For example I’m not good with pain and prefer a medicalised approach to pregnancy and childbirth. some female practitioners really look down on that, because it isn’t what they themselves would feel or choose.

Whilst women can no doubt empathise better, on the flipside I do find that women who've 'been there, done that' can be more likely to be dismissive.

Certainly in office jobs I've found many female managers to be surprisingly unsympathetic around childcare issues etc. Many seem to have the view that you need to make the sacrifices that they made and you'd better not complain because that's what it takes. Same with the 'woman up, I've given birth three times' types.

Bizarre question - you may as well ask why anyone would choose to be a midwife or work with children, because surely only a paedophile would want access to them.

You are not being unreasonable to ask or wonder, of course not. But when it comes to the actual medial care, I could don't care less what the gender of the person is, as long as they are good at their job. I haven't got anything they have not seen hundreds of times before.

I despair. I really do.

So only people who have the correspondingly same organs, should work in the same field?

what about male breast cancer specialists @CustardC - are they all randy perverts? Or sorry, is it only that between our legs which attracts people?

Perhaps male ob/gynae doctors lost someone to cancer. Perhaps they just want to ensure good health for women. Maybe like most men, they don’t go nuts upon seeing a localised piece of flesh out of context.

The funniest thing as well for me is that with 60% of women overweight, and perhaps 30% as obese, and many not considered perhaps “conventionally attractive”, I’m honestly not sure what all the pervert talk is about, other than a strange belief that all men “wank” over literally anything.

such a depressing first post, such a depressing thread

👏

It's just a branch of medicine that some have a professional interest in. I wouldn't want to do it but then I work in ICU, which isn't everybody's cup ot tea,

It does seem strange at first, but then so does the fact that Doctors specialise in putting cameras up peoples bums, circumsizing willies, treating peoples feet (my worst fear!), cutting people open and stitching them up. We're just lucky that people have enough interest to train so hard in these areas.

The only part that I'd be curious about is whether it affects their personal relationships and sex life in any way.

I'm pretty sure Adam Kay didn't give his patients cause to think otherwise either.

I prefer a male medic because they don't presume they know how you feel. They believe you rather than say, for example in a smear test, that it's minor discomfort.