Use of the term "hamburger" by sonographers to describe baby girl "bits"

[ahhhhhpushit]

I've heard this term reported by mothers so many terms that it must by the term sonographers aee taught at sonographer school.

Anybody else feel uncomfortable by it?

Imagine it being said about a baby's bits once she'd been born!

Is it just me?

There are things to get upset about and this is not one of them and certainly not a feminist issue.

Aren't they pointing at the genitals then?
I am super confused!

'Those lines - see there, where my finger is pointing - denote female genitals; you'e having a baby daughter. Congratulations.'

Works for me.

I did a bit of idle googling and found:

"Look to see what sort of shape is between the legs. If you see something that resembles a hot dog or a turtle in a shell, then it is mostly likely a boy. The "hot dog" is the , and the turtle shell is the scrotum of the baby boy. The turtle head and neck would be the baby's "

Yes they are pointing at female genitals. There are names for various parts. 'Vulva' is not the entirety of the female genital area.

However, having 'hamburger' as a default description position is - responding to the OP's question - one which makes me uncomfortable.

I didn't find out the sex of mine, but if I had, any drivelling about hamburgers or turtles would have been met with a rather cool response.

I get that it is used in an innocuous way (joints etc).

Still crass though. (ie lacking sensitivity to the women/meat connotation)

No biggie, bigger battles to fight, etc.

But crass nonetheless.

line - no, and I don't think anyone said 'vulva' was the entirety of the area. But it does refer to the visible bits fo female genitals, doesn't it? Or am I going totally mad here?

don't be confused, sardinequeen. it's merely to establish that what sonographers refer to is the shape, regardless of location or nature of what they are looking at.

the snorting about vulva, btw, is just snobbery imo. you know that most people don't use that term. more but not all people would know clitoris, they'd know labia, they'd know vagina, but you can pretty much guarantee that everyone knows what a burger in a bun looks like.

should women with bad joints be offended if 'hamburger sign' is used about their borked knee, because of this women as meat thing?

Jericho, I was thinking about aitch's post.

I would also not like my DS to be described using a crass [meat-related] metaphor or simile. It's all very reductionist.

Snobbery?

aitch, if I go to any doctor, I do accept they know a load of medical words I don't regularly use. It's not snobbish. If they're good doctors, they'll also know how to explain those terms so I can understand. Eg. by saying it's three lines or by saying it's like a hamburger. We've established some people wouldn't care for the connotations of the term hamburger ... others don't mind. Why not use a term that makes everyone happy?

line - thanks for explaining. I was just getting confused what we were talking about.

I agree, I wouldn't care either for a boy or a girl.

I'd be uncomfortable for any part of my body to be described by a HCP as a hamburger or having a hamburger sign, yes.

It's hardly an empirical description.

The whole film Falling Down was predicated on that.

• 'wouldn't care' should have been 'wouldn't care for it for'

a. because i don't think that vulva would make everyone happy.
b. because it's the shape they're talking about. hence the borked joints. if it looked like a roast chicken or a frisbee or a couscous maker or a chest of drawers they would call it that.
c. because more people know what a hamburger looks like than a vulva, and sonographers get about five minutes per patient.

aitch that makes more sense, I think!
so they call anything that shape a hamburger.
hmm
still not keen at all

Another underlying point is the lack of a generally accepted day to day term for female external genitalia. No-one complains if someone points out a willie (rather than a penis), because the term is in such common use.

I guess for me it depends if they are saying

that bit there that looks like a hamburger
or
there is her hamburger

I would imagine the first
no-one's ever said it to me though, it's the first time I've heard it in this context, so did sound really odd

Yes edith
I want a willy equivalent. Why can't I have one?

I think the fact that c) is even an option is probably what bothers me most, TBH.

Of all the words to use to describe the genitalia of foetuses, we ended up with fast-food Americana.

Who'd have thought it..?

I am sure there are adequate alternatives.

I always boggle a bit when someone storms onto a thread to insist that the subject of the thread DOESN'T MATTER IT REALLY DOESN'T MATTER JUST LEAVE IT IT DOESN'T MATTER. It is so odd; presumably the subject of nearly all threads provokes a million silent shrugs, amongst the people who then leave it, but.... why?

Dunno vezzie
Ignore is my default