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 have Crohn's. Not to derail but I often wonder why anybody would choose bums as their field of medicine. I do not assume, for one second, sinister motives.

I assume gynaecology offers, as others have said, lots of opportunity to cover a range of complex issues. I do however prefer female HCPs generally.

Last year I had the joy of a compulsory two week stay on a gynae ward. All the nurses were female (some were really unpleasant, that's another story) whilst all the consultants and doctors were male. It was noticeable. I did wonder why there weren't more female consultants on a gynae ward in 2021.

None of the (male) consultants - and it seemed to be different one every day - showed any interest in either me or explaining directly to me what was wrong. I was treated like an object.

It was however a young male doctor who sat down with me & explained the potential seriousness of my situation and it was the same young doc who, a week later, sent me for further x-rays in the night which triggered emergency open surgery the following day. He showed more empathy for my situation than some of the female nurses (who could be pretty bullying, especially the night shift ones).

My surgeon was female. I was relieved by that tbh. She was confident in her ability to help me, she communicated clearly and understood my concerns- and what the impact of surgery would have on me. I had no qualms about putting my life (and bits) in her hands. Perhaps the male consultants understood too but were unable to communicate either their competency or demonstrate awareness of my own humanity or theirs.

My surgeon visited me every day after surgery to cajole me into activity, check my scar and tease me for still being in hospital.

When it was time to go, a male consultant, when asked when I could enjoy a bath again (with a navel to pubic bone freshly glued together abdomen) told me within the week. Yeah, mate.

Generally, I don't have an issue with the sex of my HCP in this area of medicine, I've met assuring professionals - and borderline incompetents - of both sexes but I would generally prefer a woman as they're more likely to appreciate the impact of particular procedures and be able to communicate it.

Which reminds me of a smear I had in my thirties. I don't think a female GP would have left me legs splayed, facing an open door, with a speculum my vagina whilst looking around the surgery for a nurse to "help them find my cervix" Nope, I'd put money on it: no woman would do that.

Oh I've read a thread before asking why men want to teach in primary 😵‍💫

@Nizanb

"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."

But it's not a first date or modelling audition, they're following protocol and examining for signs of disease, infection, abnormalities etc.

I've never even thought about it - I just assumed that it was an area of medicine which interested them, and perhaps gave a lot of opportunities to advance in the profession.

It's also one where most of your patients will have happy outcomes - that's got to be a bonus!

I've had a male gynaecologist and he was lovely - and did an absolutely beautiful emergency section when my son showed signs of foetal distress. Every doctor and nurse I've seen in the last 43 years has admired my scar!

Personally, the area of medicine that I can't comprehend ANYONE wanting to be involved in (unless they have personal family experience) is cold-rectal. Just "yuk". But I am very grateful that many do.

Trust me if your friend had needed fertility treatment she'd find most of the consultants were male so she couldn't be so picky

Perhaps they had mums / wives / children with a medical issue and they want to give their expertise to the wider good and improve things for the next generation etc

I find it odd people think there is something sinister in their motives

I loved my gynae. Unfortunately I have now moved. But he was never anything but professional, never made me feel uncomfortable in any way. There was always one or two female nurses in there anyway to help with the setting up and to hold a hand and clean up so I was never alone with him

@RaininginDarling
I have Crohn's. Not to derail but I often wonder why anybody would choose bums as their field of medicine. I do not assume, for one second, sinister motives.

We've practically cross-posted!

I also said I don't know why anyone would want to be a bum doctor.

www.statista.com/statistics/698260/registered-doctors-united-kingdom-uk-by-gender-and-specialty/

Maybe part of it is there just are more men than women doctors?

Re motivation, I think it would be stupid to say there is no way that any male doctor would ever have any bad intentions or would ever choose a particular speciality for any reason other than they find it super interesting and want to help people. Maybe it pays better. Maybe it's got the best chance of career progression. Maybe they want power over vulnerable people. Maybe they get their rocks off. Maybe all of those things are true of different people.

Just like you wouldn't say no priest would ever or has ever used their position to abuse. Or no nun has ever used hers to.

Or that men don't become scout leaders for any other reason than they want to teach young boys how to make a fire.
🤷

There are awful people in every line of work. No field attracts only saints and no field attracts only sinners.

our GP practice does the smear. It's simply the normal nurse on duty doing the smear. I had a male nurse too and found it a little uncomfortable but got over it tbh

I'm also a bit baffled by men who choose to be midwives or specialist gynaecology nurses a profession. Not sure. Are there female urologists? Probably maybe it doesn't matter?

On the other hand, we don't normally question it if the obstetrician consultant, top gynaecologist in the hospital is male, something to think about!

So nobody should ever be treated by someone who isn't exactly the same as them, because we can't possibly empathise?

Should we only ever be treated by people of the same ethnicity as us? Elderly only treated by doctors who are 60+? Obese people only treated by obese doctors? People with cancer only treated by people who have/ have had cancer?

Don't be ridiculous.

Im not! You are!! I never said nobody should be treated by anyone not exactly the same, you did. What I said was, it’s a perfectly reasonable question. There is no difference like the difference between the sexes, biologically. Your examples are stupid analogies that show your childish attitude. Our sexed bodies are uniquely different to males, so it’s perfectly valid and allowed to prefer someone of the same sex treat you medically. It doesn’t extend to any other differences because they don’t matter and most mature people understand why. We separate bathrooms and changing rooms by sex, not anything else. So it’s absolutely valid and accepted by most sane people in society that our physical bodies are different and some people prefer to be examined by someone of the same sex. They don’t have to be, but it’s an option.

I think the immature people on this thread are those that don’t ‘get this’ and try to compare to things that don’t matter or make a difference.

I have been through 15 years of fertility treatments and given birth 4 times... I have encountered several men and never once questioned their motive.

If anyone thinks they are in any way 'getting off on' the awful shit they have to see day in and day out then give your heads a wobble.

It was a man that had to ram he arm elbow deep into to repair a tear when I was heamorraging to death - nothing sexy about that

It was a man that spent 4 HOURS repairing the horrific tearing I had after DS2 - definately not sexy

I have had an exuberatly effeminate walking rainbow of man for my smear before too and while I never asked Im almost certain I dont have enough penis for his sexual taste so highly doubt he was getting thrills from my unshaven minge while my DH stood a thin curtain away and a nurse watched over with hawk like gaze.

I think woman who are fussy about this clearly have been lucky enough to never be in a life or death situation where you litrally could not care less if the person saving your life has a cock or not. Most of the higher up in obstetrics are men, if you ever need anything 'serious' or 'life saving' doing it will likely be a male.

As for why, Im not certain it applies to the NHS but in most other countries its for the money... fertility and womens medicing is a VERY well paid area of medicine (especially in the private sector... IVF in America can easily be $20k for example).

Also I have always found men more understanding than many women... women doctors in infertilty can be fucking nasty sometimes and very dismissive.

My last smear was with a female nurse. She hurt me, said pain was normal, made me bleed and then made me feel dirty for bleeding.

I also had a female Dr when giving birth who treated me like a slab of meat.

The male nurse who dealt with my husband's vasectomy was horrible apparently.

They were awful because they were awful at their jobs, not because of their gender.

I've heard that it's either because male gynaes love women - or they hate them. Also, women's bodies are considered to be more interesting due to being able to give birth.

Never had a male nurse for a smear but a male medical student under supervision delivered one of my babies. He was lovely and I was happy to help him progress in his medical studies. 30 years on and I sometimes wonder if he passed his exams and flourished in the medical world 😀

Well I knew a student doc who wanted to specialise in gynae because he said, and I quote "I want to be able to look at women's fannys all day long"

I am sure now he has seen a huge range of fannys from women of varying ages he's not so drooly about the idea.

My mum who was a midwife used to say her male obs and gynae doctors did it because they had a 'natural interest' in the subject.

Also as said earlier in the thread, it's one of the only disciplines to cover medicine and surgery and there are often good outcomes. And heartbreaking ones. Adam Kay said that's why he went into it.

So a mix of nefarious intent and noble intent I think.

I don't mind male gynaecologists- there's a lot of practical/academic training behind every gynaecologist BUT there should ideally be a female back-up at the time- and get-outs for the female patients- no disapproval if female patient wants a woman- make saying "no" easy/understandable- explain at appt booking likelihood of male doc

There's probably a sociological reason for large number of male gynaes in that female doctors (especially surgeons) have historically been thin on the ground so gynaecology was inevitably populated by men- we've got used to it

I would mind a male nurse taking a smear etc- so I'm with you there- I would find it odd

I find it really hard to articulate why, but I will say that I was a nurse myself for 20 years (in sexual health). The male nurses stuck to the male floor, whereas male doctors worked on either floor (with female chaperones).
As a nurse, you're much more about the the nicey, nicey- putting people at ease stuff. Why on earth do you think you'd be the best person for the job where naked women are concerned? it's naive/arrogant/insensitive at best. there are so many other fields you could be in.
There's a lot more graft/training involved in being a doctor - gynaes are surgeons and often obstetricians, too- it's not something you walk into easily
It's not so difficult to become a nurse and "specialist" training is very short- you could do anything and you, as a man, choose fannies...nah! something off

I'm not running nursing down- a good nurse is worth their weight and can be the difference between life and death and certainly between dignity and indignity.
But any man who chooses to nurse vulnerable (ie undressed) women is not a man I want near my fanny!
If your sister's male nurse is a Practice nurse then I appreciate that taking smears would not be a huge part of his job description. But there should be a female back up, and he should advertise this. Even then, women are likely to want to spare his feelings.
We women are taught from a young age not to kick up a fuss, to "be kind", compliant and it's so wrong. there is a physical imbalance of power between the sexes- girls and women unfortunately experience sexual hassle or worse throughout life.
these" little encroachments" all feed into that.

This.

In my case, it was the male gynaecologist who listened and helped me. The women thought I was overreacting and needed to get a grip. So your goady thread can do one.

Doesn't bother me either... I certainly wouldn't question their motives' Would you question a female doctor looking into prostate etc?

Much prefer the male gynaes I've encountered to the female ones....they seem more aware of themselves and more respectful of the fact I'm not a human glove puppet.

When I was on the maternity ward the family next to me was visited by the Paediatrician. As she walked away they began whispering amongst themselves how weird and inappropriate it was that a Doctor had a name that sounded so much like paedophile. Especially one who worked with kids, it was a bit suspicious.

So it honestly wouldn't surprise me if a select few thought that!

I saw a male gynaecologist when I was either late teens or early 20s, I wish I'd had the confidence to ask to see a woman instead. He did nothing wrong but I did feel uncomfortable.

This is what I was getting at.

A gynaecologist examining me after I'd had a suspected ectopic pregnancy back in 2005 got visibly aroused!

I did wonder after that...

Sounds like you have been through a lot. And thank god for the man that saved your life.

But, I'm really sorry. The way you described the smear test really made me laugh!