This is Going to Hurt - starts 8th Feb

[ouch321]

I loved the book of this by Adam Kay. I know others weren't so keen.
BBC has dramatised this and starts in early Feb. Just a heads up for others who liked the book.

Is it a series or a film?

I found the book blatantly and upsettingly misogynistic. However, I will watch the adaptation to see if it gives me the same impression as the book. I strongly suspect I will be switching off quite quickly.

Series - 8 parter
First look

@lljkk

I never found Kay was disrespectful towards anyone except the openly racist patients -- he struggled a lot with them.

Exactly. I laughed when I read the bit about the dolphin tattoo. Absolutely deserved.

I trained as a dentist during the 1980s alongside many medic friends I found the book a very accurate record of training in medicine at that time. Misogyny was rife amongst the teaching staff and more senior professionals but it was also a turning point for women entering the health professions. When I applied they accepted the sexes based on percentage of applications, so if 30% of applicants were women then 30% of places were awarded to women even if all the female applicants A level results exceeded those of all the male applicants. So imagine if you needed 3Bs ( old Alevel grades) and achieved them but they had awarded all the female places to those who achieved As and Bs, the other 70% of places were then awarded to men who may only have achieved a B and 2Cs. It was an incredibly unfair and discriminatory system and was still in place until the late 1980s. Is it any wonder that it has taken so long for women to really make it in medicine.

I had a pretty horrid labour and I found the book very funny - didn’t notice any misogyny. Most doctors do think labour is dangerous - they generally only see the ones that are going wrong.

I also thought his partner was a woman but this was my assumption. He never says they are male or female.

I don’t remember there being any misogyny in that book?

I thought his partner was called Helen

Can't agree with that, sorry.
Calling out someone's racism when they ask if a baby has ever come out a different colour from the parents, with the reply ''Blue''. Makes a point.
Deliberately sewing up a racist patient so as to decapitate her dolphin tattoo? Not on remotely.

www.theguardian.com/books/2017/dec/10/adam-kay-this-is-going-to-hurt-interview-junior-doctor
On another occasion he deals with a difficult and racist patient undergoing surgery by sewing her up after the operation in such a way as to disfigure her dolphin tattoo. Did that really happen?

“I don’t want to talk about that one because that’s one I wasn’t meant to put in the book,” he says, adding, “but that obviously did happen.”

It will be interesting in the adaptation what has been kept in and what has been left out. I do like Ben Whishaw though, so will return to the thread when I have seen his portayal.

I worked in obstetrics and gynaecology for 18 months in the 1980s and I found the attitudes expressed in Adam Kay's books far nastier than anything I encountered on the wards or behind the scenes. I do remember it being fairly clear in the books that he was in a same sex relationship.

I'll probably watch the first episode out of interest to see how it's been interpreted for television.

I do remember it being fairly clear in the books that he was in a same sex relationship.

It can’t have been that clear because I didn’t pick it up.

I have been puzzled to hear from female friends that it is hugely misogynistic/not at all

I could solve it by reading it but will be annoyed if it's misogynist

I can't believe he said that publicly about the dolphin tattoo and gave the patient proof to sue?

I thought it was a good depiction of reality - that the worst/best day of your life (in my case I’m an ICU dr so it’s always the worst) is actually a normal day at the office for us. It’s something that has really damaged me. I think, being constantly surrounded by disaster.

I thought the book was rather good.

A few PPs appear to be confusing profanity/humour with misogyny. To be clear, the fact you don’t like something doesn’t make it misogynistic. If you’re of the pearl clutching persuasion, best give most types of comedy a miss…

It may have not even happened, a lot of the ‘events’ in the book are really old jokes and anecdotes that have been told before.

That’s the thing- he can portray himself, events and patients however he likes. Some of the big issues in female healthcare that women desperately try to be heard on- not being believed and dismissed as ‘crazy’ when knowing there’s definitely a problem or being in pain for a gynae issue, being fearful of labour and birth (often due to previous abuse) and wanting to have as much control as possible at such a vulnerable time- are given their own spin. The woman insisting she’s not being listened and knows her own body is of course portrayed as completely crazy and violent, the woman with fear and anxiety over her birth is of course portrayed as a diva with a ridiculous ‘9-page laminated’ birth plan and it’s so hilarious when she needs a caesarean.

I think it’s just a shame that the book couldn’t at least touch upon the real problems and injustices women constantly face and how badly they are also let down by the system. Instead the women are just in the background being stupid, disgusting and making a fuss whilst he heroically strives 🙄

Bruno "It may have not even happened, a lot of the ‘events’ in the book are really old jokes and anecdotes that have been told before."

If you mean the tattoo thing, I think it didn't happen, it can't have done.

@thecatneuterer

I loved the audio book so much. I have to say any nastiness or misogyny went completely over my head, I just found it extremely funny, entertaining and interesting.

Sorry, third response, haven't RTFT beyond it- but I didn't find his book disrespect or misogynistic!

I think he may have listened to comments re misogyny before he wrote his children's book marvellous medicine . He mentions the sexism within medicine and society an awful lot. He also highlights women's achievements.

Oh aye no misogyny to see in his book, especially not the part where he jokes about how he helped a vulnerable woman giving birth with a baby in distress while he had an erection because he had been masturbating in the on call room. I would have been seriously triggered if my doctor approached me with an erection within his trousers if I had been in that position. Yet he thinks it's so hilarious it's great book fodder.

Another one who missed the misogyny and the fact the author is gay. The main thing I learned was how family-unfriendly the greasy pole is between junior doctor and consultant. It's a wonder how anyone manages to maintain a relationship while being expected to move around the country to different trusts in order to acquire experience of diverse demographics. Not to mention ridiculous hours and never being able to rely on being able to attend important social engagements.

I found the ending very moving.

I went to see him recently at our local theatre. He came across as very angry…it was a very weird ,awkward hour !
He did though refer to a stillbirth that he attended and was clearly still traumatised by it …I think that was when he gave up his career . He also referred to his own parents in a very disrespectful/ angry way …it was a very odd show.

@Thymeout

Another one who missed the misogyny and the fact the author is gay. The main thing I learned was how family-unfriendly the greasy pole is between junior doctor and consultant. It's a wonder how anyone manages to maintain a relationship while being expected to move around the country to different trusts in order to acquire experience of diverse demographics. Not to mention ridiculous hours and never being able to rely on being able to attend important social engagements.

I found the ending very moving.

This is also me!

@Janesmom

I thought the book was rather good.

A few PPs appear to be confusing profanity/humour with misogyny. To be clear, the fact you don’t like something doesn’t make it misogynistic. If you’re of the pearl clutching persuasion, best give most types of comedy a miss…

Well you're a patronising thing, aren't you?

I found it awfully disdainful towards women. Contemptuous of their bodies, their pain, their fears. I am in no way nowhere by humour or profanity. Quite the contrary with the latter.

Bollocks. Offended somehow corrected to 'nowhere' and my comment ^ now makes no sense

I was a bit when I read the book but DD1 enjoyed it (not a regular reader) so I bought tickets to see him at local theatre. He was awful, dripping with contempt for women patients and also staff working with him in the hospital. DD was 17 I think and asked if we could leave in the interval. Awful.