To think that having a mammogram carried out by a man is preferable to a long wait for an appointment.

[JudithOnHolidayAgain]

I know many people who wouldn't be here now without early detection of breast cancer due to the screening programme.
I have had a few myself.
It's not something I look forward to but it's a few minutes of discomfort that could save my life so I put up with it.
Given the choice I would prefer a woman carry it out as it is quite intrusive but as there is a shortage of female staff I would be ok with a male member of staff as long as there was a chaperone and Iwas told in advance.
If they do change the rules I think there should be a choice.

I have reported your posts . You need to stop. I am not a man and can post opposing views to yours without being accused of being a man.

I posted a definition of how clamping during mammograms is generally not painful. It has not been painful for me and the touching minimal, mammographers are trained to carry out minimal touching. It is most definitely minimal during mine. Very little.

Your other posts have been deleted, I will be reporting this post too.

You should probably stop now

I accept that text system would hopefully prevent people from turning up but this is still potentially a wasted appointment. I think calling people “chicken shit” because they are not assertive enough or are perhaps worried about wasting an appointment is very childish deliberately provocative and completely misses the point.

Actually just seen your previous post about being stripped in operating theatre arms strapped down etc. obviously either total nonsense or a really traumatic experience that should be reported to the hospital. But I know which one my money is on.

Nope. No way.

Why would male a male do this job... honestly, think about it and say no!

Chicken shit? Lovely.

I wish I had seen their previous post before I engaged with this person!

I wouldn’t mind. I’ve had 3 breast lump examinations and all were male doctors. You get a female nurse chaperone. It’s not what everyone would want, we should have the choice.

I had a male midwife during my second labour and a male doctor delivered my first child with forceps. Didn't feel particularly uncomfortable but there were female staff in the room at the same time. Seem to remember any time I had intimate examinations by a male GP or doctor there had to be a female in the room. When I think about it more, I would feel vulnerable being alone with a male in intimate situations. Would a male not feel vulnerable too to false accusations of abuse if alone with female patients. As a teacher, it was always drummed into us never to be alone with a child, always to leave the door open etc.
Would be interested to hear the perspective of a male already doing the job as I've only had female radiographers. Need to go back and read through all 800 posts!

I'm not in the UK but my last mammogram was done by s man I didn't realise that in the UK it wasn't a thing ? Why would it be any different from any other treatment? In fact my last smear was fine by a man too come to think of it. There was a female present Any healthcare professionals that are saving my life are welcomed

Because some women as a result of their life experiences find certain intimate procedures very distressing especially if carried out by a man

the it doesn’t bother me so it shouldn’t bother anyone else is a bit crap and uncaring

I must say, before this thread I had absolutely no idea only women can currently train as mammographers. That's utter insanity, that the health service locks out a whole group of people who are equally capable of learning the information required to do this role. It harms women's healthcare that for some random reason we limit the numbers of staff who can train to do something that benefits us. I had no idea. I'm thankful this thread has shone a light on this issue. Fingers crossed a change is made. We wouldn't ban women from training to carry out prostate checks, or ban men from training to deliver cervical screenings.

But what about male doctors and gynaecologists that carry out extreme intimate procedures? A mammogram is hardly intimate.

We need as many trained medics as possible. You could even ask individual women if they would consent to be seen by a man. That would speed things up for those who consent and those who don’t. It’s wrong to debar 50% of the population because of their sex.

It is intimate to me - don’t assume you know other peoples situations clearly

but look at the number of girls having double mastectomies and think why

as much as possible for any intimate procedure people should be allowed a same sex practitioner

I know it’s fashionable to think toilets and changeing rooms should be unisex and people should be able to wander around naked if they want ( which is where the steady erosion of sex based rights end up ) but I don’t have to be happy about it or approve

It can also be extremely traumatic for women who have been assaulted to have to see male gynaecologists and have their babies delivered by male obstetricians. Believe me on that. Unfortunately, especially in an emergency, there just isn’t a choice.

I promise l believe you on that and fully understand. But what l am advocating here is that women who are relaxed about seeing a man for the procedure (this includes me) may give their consent.

Well, @Fr33asaB1rd - if you are not a man, you are an extremely unempathetic individual who has utterly failed to understand that her experience of mammograms is hugely different to most people's experience of them!

How many other women need to tell you that their mammograms involved a LOT of intrusive touching and repositioning, before you accept that your experience is NOT universal, and your mammograms are by no means the norm?

Honestly, it takes a special sort of insensitivity to insist that one person's experience of pretty much anything makes them THE expert on everyone else's experience of that thing!

I think if you take away the principle that it's a women's leg service for women then it will encroach on the principle of consent in the future.

The fact that the let assured me it'll be a female only service makes it easy to book and attend. Introduce any doubt and some women will self exclude, and their health will suffer.

This is often the same group that using 'inclusive language' such as cervix havers rather than women results in health inequalities.

Happy for you to have an opt in service for male led care but I don't want women to have to opt out in order to see a woman

Would that way around suit you?

I could say the same to you. Mammographers are trained to carry them out with minimal touching so a LOT will NOT experience intrusive touching and your experience is NOT universal.

Honestly it takes a special sort of insensitivity and scaremongering to put a lot of women off having a monogram at all. Great job!

Have 'a lot' of women on here said their mammograms involved minimal touching, @Fr33asaB1rd? You are the only one who has said so repeatedly, whereas there are a lot of posters saying their mammograms did involve a lot of touching and were intrusive.

Guess what a little thread on MN doesn’t speak for the country as a whole and anyway going by the vote results one would assume the majority are happy with their mammograms. Going by the women I know there are many like me that don’t experience intrusive touching. As mammographers are trained to keep touching to the minimum one can see why.

@Fr33asaB1rd there has definitely been touching required for my mammograms. Just as there is discomfort. I don't think it's appropriate to suggest there is not for some women, not to discourage attendance, I'm a strong advocate for screening, but to manage expectations. I don't want to gas light women suggesting it's a pleasant experience, just as smear tests aren't, we tolerate it for our health.

I'm glad for you that your experience has been different but I don't understand the anger or upset that others have had a different experience. The tone of response suggests you are cross or frustrated with people that report a different experience to you.

Of course.

There's nothing inherently worrying about a man who works in radiology, despite what some posters want to claim. Or midwifery or gynecology.

Women shouldn't be forced to have a male practitioner of course.

I wouldn't give any consideration to the gender of somebody helping me with anything important. My DP is a junior doctor, he has experience of being asked to leave as they don't want "that man" helping them, which made him feel awful. IME there's always a chaperone anyway, I'd rather just get seen by the right person who can do the job quickly