The (male) midwife who delivered my baby has been struck off

[LaurelFloral]

So yes, that, basically. The midwife that delivered my first baby has been struck off. I've name changed for total anonymity, but I need to vent.

The midwife (male) made me feel very uncomfortable during labour/after giving birth. I'm not sure if this was because he was male, or because it was my first baby, or because I was a young mum. But I felt very creeped out by him at the time.

He's been struck off for various issues such as disappearing during a shift, taking photos of women during c-sections, not keeping up to date with training, bullying colleagues, I think there were 29 allegations in the end, dating back to 2011.

I remember people saying at the time my child was born that it took a special man to be a midwife, going against the grain, doing a woman's job. As much as I tried, I couldn't see that.

Can men be good midwives? Or should it be a profession soley for women?

women are more likely to die if men operate on them

Now that's a headline that needs a lot more unpicking before conclusion are reached. The most skilled surgeons tend to have quite high mortality rates as they deal with the most difficult cases.

I'm sure it's covered upthread, but I take the view that a man who actively wishes to spend their working life seeing female genitalia then you have to ask questions. Surely any sensible and kind man understand that there is no benefit to seeing women's genitalia in such a context (whereas I get that seeing a woman's genitalia in the context of porn or sex can have a benefit), yet there is a risk of discomfort and embarrassment on both sides (or rather, even more embarrassment that when the midwife is a women). I simply do not understand any reason for a man to want to do the job when there are so many other medical roles that he could choose to do, but I do see very good reasons why for his own benefit or for women he would go down an alternative route.

Is the right of men to work in a field of medicine concentrated on female genitalia an important right for men to have? Clearly not.

Is the right of women to be safe and comfortable (including not being put in a position where they are having to say they want a woman not a man) an important right for women to have? Clearly yes.

On a similar matter every single normal man on the planet will run for the hills rather than try to make rape victim feel better - no-one wants a job that tough and distressing, and the only legitimate reason for choosing to do it is that you are a woman who passionately believes that someone needs to do it and they are better placed than many to take on the job. No honest and good man can possibly think that they could ever be best placed to help a female rape victim, which pretty much makes any man in such a place a pervert or abuser by definition.

@NotMyGenderGoblin such good points. Excellent.

I've read at least two interviews with male midwives, where they've complained about some women refusing to be seen by them. Like they're completely oblivious to the reasons why that might be. I felt it was a sign they were in the wrong job.