Am I the only Women who doesn't like to see a Women Doctor?

[MiniTheMinx]

I have been thinking about this for some time. I have often read that women like to see women doctors and of course for some this is tied in with religion and culture, for others maybe a history of abuse or a reasonable expectation that only a women would really understand the inner workings of women, whether it be gynea or even emotional/psychological problems.

However I have to date always had problems with women doctors.

I have come to the conclusion that some women who lack power, authority or autonomy under male domination seek to impose authority over other women. From my experience this happens when there is a perceived weakness such as illness.

I wondered if women really do empower themselves by oppressing other women because they feel so helpless themselves?

Maybe. I don't give a shit, as long as they are good.

Widow, I can't speak for the poster in question, but I suspect this may cover it:
"On top of that, requesting a female doctor can prove to a clinic that the demand for a female doctor is there, when it comes to recruiting. I'd much rather speak to a woman about a lump in my breast, or heavier than usual periods..."

OP I think you were wrong to frame your question in terms of female doctors.

I think, you really wanted to ask, 'do women, once reaching positions of power, seek to continue their own empowerment by oppressing other women'.

This is an interesting question, but not one that can be answered by targeting one particular proffesion.

The patient-doctor relationship is unique in our society and I would be very surprised if anything other than a small minority of doctors (or either gender) sought to oppress patients.

Blistory, thank you for your honest and very thought provoking post. I too have been a little guilty of having put male management needs above my better judgement and natural tendency at times.

CoteDAzur, you are right, I do not think women seek out positions where they can subjugate others. I simply feel that we sometimes expect more of a human caring face from women even when they are held up to some male barometer of behaviour in an essentially male dominated field. In order to survive and be taken seriously in a social system which is patriarchal in nature and often where men's behaviour is held up to be the strategy for success and by which all people are judged some women feel pressured to "perform" in a way that is predetermined by men.

When I supervised a couple of teams in the delivery of care, part of my job was to offer individual and group supervision to staff. I think most of the time I got it right, strangely I know I got this right because my managers were constantly pressuring me to meet budgets, deadlines, persuade people to retire when they didn't want to, force people to take on more work when I knew it wasn't humanely possible, cut their hours and withdraw support for personal issues effecting a staff members and I mostly managed to subvert their demands. Although at times the pressure to save money meant I was part of a system that stripped people (clients) of their human dignity when we assessed them as having few care needs when personally I felt people needed more support. The fact that staff were opposed to the cuts and felt deeply effected by seeing people barely able to cope, meant I was in some respects having power I didn't want over others but my job depended upon it. I was usually more popular with those I worked over than those I worked under because (I am an anarchist and a non conformist irritant ) I hate having power over others. I don't even tell my children what to do....I ask them.

WW, what Frothy said and what I said on the previous page. When medicine was male dominated the attitude towards issues women's health issues was appalling. The more women involved at every level of the medical profession, the better the attitude towards women's health has become.

Request a to see a woman and more women get hired. Simple.

I had a female gyny in Germany and she was lovely, I had one in England a few years ago and she was very abrupt and officious. My GPs nurses are a "witches covern", and my sister-in-laws nurse is a right "battleaxe" with her. But don't think they are like that with the men. The male Dr. is lovely. But I would always want a female gyny. Didn't bother me when I was young, but now I am much older, and having a young man feeling my not at all perky boobs, made me feel terrible.

"I'd much rather speak to a woman about a lump in my breast, or heavier than usual periods..."

That's the argument I don't get. I'd much rather speak to someone who is qualified to give advice, sex doesn't make a difference there. I wouldn't prefer an oncologist who's a cancer survivor over one who isn't, because his or her personal experience has zilch to do with the clinical aspects of treatments.

And I'd like to see some supporting evidence for the claim that "when medicine was male dominated it was all so bad for women". I wouldn't buy it just because it fits preferred narrative.

Whatever I linked to to you find fault with. As it fits your preferred narrative.

To anyone with an open mind who is interested, look into the history of childbirth in the mid 20th century and the assumption that newborns don't feel pain which led to babies being operated on without anaesthetics as late as the 1980s.

Erm I prefer female doctors for women's issues, but if its not female related no intimate examination then male docs r fine.

To be honest I've had problems with Asian docs I'm Asian myself. I still give them te benefit of doubt but most times I've been proven right they give me second rate treatment. I believe they think oh she Asian like me she won't put in a complaint, or get a second opinion.

Even recently I've been unwell for a long time, still am. there was a new doc Asian, I thought I an discriminate I felt so bad. Went to see her, she didn't look happy at my appearance, I wear full islamic clothing. But I was chatty, and I'm normally shy in public, I made a big effort. she didn't explain much, just told me to continue with the pain for another week even though the complain had lasted for a month since I had been discharged from hospital. I went for a second opinion doc was non Asian was a bit of an arrogant person which is funny coz he's usually my fave doc. He said Asian doc had seen me only 3 days ago I couldn't expect a recovery. I explained I was worried, and he carried out further blood tests. Point is I was right, I'm not well. They're still figuring out what it is.

So sorry but I dislike Asian docs with good reason. If I could I would say I'd like a white or black doctor only please,when I book an appointment, but I'd get done for racism.

""when medicine was male dominated it was all so bad for women" Is it no longer male dominated then? The culture certainly seems quite male to me.

I'm not in the least bothered about the gender of the doctor-as long as they are good I can't see it matters.

It's a lot better than it was and not as good as it should be. The more women employed the more things will change.

I have absolutely no preference either way and would not even consider asking for a female gp if it was for a smear. I just take who I get. Almost all of the GPs at our practice are slightly incompetent in my experience, male or female.

However, 2 atrocious female dentists have left me with an irrational fear and I will only see male dentists.

"It's a lot better than it was and not as good as it should be. The more women employed the more things will change. "

Employing women just because they're women is hurting the cause more than it helps - as it means women are constantly getting an implicit "you only got that job because you're a woman, not because you earned it". Quotas are a bad thing, positive discrimination is a bad thing, it doesn't change attitudes for the better.

Also, just because someone is a woman it doesn't mean that she neccessarily has women's wellfare more at heart than a man would.

I don't care whether they are male female or any other gender - I want them to fix me or tell me how to fix myself - then I am happy.

Our current woman GP is absolutely lovely.And I specifically went to her for migraine problems, as I thought she would understand "headaches" better.She was brill.fwiw,she is married to a male doctor there and he is good too.
But there has also been a previous woman GP at the surgery who I actually reported. I suspect others reported her too. She was fired 6 months later. No idea whether she was trying to exert power over me. I suspect not . She didnt like doing out of hours work,so I dont think she endeared herself to patients or colleagues.

My mother dislikes having a female doctor. She had lousy experiences with female gynaecologists and a recent missed diagnosis for over a year (I think, but I'm not a medic) from a female GP, resulting in some not very successful (I think because late) surgery.

Yes, OP, I think in some cases you are right, although I found your original post quite hard to take (why? not sure). I think an undergroup will always police itself and its behaviour very fiercely as members of the undergroup are fighting for reduced 'pickings' from the overgroup. Meanwhile the members of the overgroup can be tremendously nice and lovely to those members of the undergroup who make it through. This would fit with male consultants being very nice to female patients who get referred, with female GPs being the gatekeepers and being a lot brusquer with their patients as they will be accused of being soft or referring inappropriately if they send too many 'worried well' women to the clinic.

In a similar way, articles about A-list celebrities will frequently go on about how NICE they are and how much they want to spend time with their fans/reveal all about their private lives, but their nasty PR won't let them. Ha ha. Get powerful enough, and you can delegate the being nasty function to someone else.

There is quite a lot of writing about how women are judged as nastier if they speak and behave like men in the same field - there is a fine line to be trod.

Having said all that... I still think, if you are the common factor in a situation where the same result keeps happening, you need to consider your own approach first. Maybe have a think about how you are approaching GPs and whether you can do anything to make the relationship work better? Because ultimately you are the person who suffers if that relationship is a bit kack.

It's not a quota. It's not 'positive discrimination'. It's expressing a desire to see a woman so that hospitals and surgeries are aware that there is a demand for women doctors. It's not like there's a shortage of excellent women candidates yet women are still outnumbered by men when it comes to senior positions in medicine.

Women of child bearing age face discrimination when it comes to employment simply because they have wombs. It's ridiculous to pretend it's a level playing field.

""when medicine was male dominated it was all so bad for women" Is it no longer male dominated then? The culture certainly seems quite male to me.

DH recruits Drs to train as GPs and says that currently the recruits are 75% female so it's looking like it certainly won't be a male dominated profession in the future - no idea about hospitals Drs though.

Mini post Mon 12.50pm
Your last couple of lines are quite alarming.
Choosing maybe not to have treatment because of this problem,could at some point put your health in danger.
Perhaps you could talk to people in your RL to shed some light on the problem.
I wouldnt want anything to happen to you Mini!

A lot of women doctors become GPs. Partly because of the opportunity for flexible working, but also because surgeries have actively sought out women doctors. They know a percentage of their patients would prefer to have a woman doctor available for at least some issues, and as a result even small practices tend to have at least one woman GP working there.

Imagine what could happen if we expressed our preference when it came to doctors generally.

I have to say that I find your theory on female doctors completely unfounded and the parallels with oppression and institutionalised abuse completely out of place.

I have seen dozens of doctors, hcps and mental health professionals at work because I have worked as an interpreter. I have witnessed no trend for female doctors etc to be arrogant, dismissive, oppressive....there's thorough and not so, empathic and not so etc. in both sexes.

I have certainly noticed that, these days, a GP is as likely to be female as male in the surgeries I go to and more and more female practitioners are working with hospital consultant led teams, still quite rare to meet a female consultant.

I also interpret a lot on therapy sessions. I think you could have a fascinating time dissecting why you react with such strong feelings of vulnerability when in contact with female doctors.

"It's not a quota. It's not 'positive discrimination'. It's expressing a desire to see a woman so that hospitals and surgeries are aware that there is a demand for women doctors."

What's the difference?

The difference is that there is no compulsion. And the qualified women are there. Every woman of child bearing age has to be better than the male candidates to get the job - not equal, better - to overcome the assumption that she'll be taking time off work to have DC. Why pretend it's a level playing field?