I gave all my classes this riddle this week - 3 kids got the answer.

[IHeartKingThistle]

I teach secondary English. Last week as a starter I gave all my classes (Yr 7s, 8s and 9s) some riddles to solve and this was one of them:

A man and his son are in a car accident and are rushed to hospital. When they arrive the doctor looks at the boy and exclaims 'I can't operate on him, he's my son!' How can this be?

Some kids guessed that the boy had 2 dads in a gay relationship, which could technically be correct of course. But it only occurred to 3 kids out of nearly 100 that the doctor could be a woman. Not one of the Year 7s thought of it.

In this day and age? I couldn't believe it!

They got a nice little lecture on feminism as a bonus that lesson

This same example is also used for psychological influencing experiments. It's not unbiased in its asking. A man and his son. It's influencing gender in its description so although I get your point it is certainly not a neutral starting point to ask for a fair representation of answer.

Bumpity bumper, you could also make it a dad and his daughter, so still the less obvious female doctor but I do think daughter = > mother is more logical than son => mother

bumpitybumpity image in my mind whilst reading that was of a female doctor saying they can't opperate. It's definitely a factor (for me at least). After visualising two males/females the next person of unspecified sex I imagine as the same sex as the previous two

My first reaction to Bumpity's re-write was it's a lesbian couple, not a father.

As a PP said it's loading your thoughts before it starts by having both main "characters" as male. I'd also say with these kind of riddles you're programmed to look for a cryptic answer not an obvious one*

*saying this is a female working in a male dominated area of healthcare who automatically looked for a more complicated answer

Would the equivalent be...

A woman and her daughter rush to the GP clinic for a sexual health check (?). The nurse says "I can't treat her, she's my daughter."

I'm ashamed to say that we were asked a similar riddle on my access course but with a detective overhearing "no bob" and then a gun shot. in the room was a surgeon a mechanic and a lawyer but he instantly arrested bob. I did not get the answer despite being an avid feminist 😳
it just shows how deeply ingrained it is

You will have to explain this one. Bob is a man's name. If only one of the surgeon, engineer and lawyer is a man the detective will arrest the man.

The detective might well be a woman but you have told us he is a man too.

I just asked my DS5 and I actually fist pumped the air when he said the Mum.

Unfortunately he then let me down when he went on to say...but girl Doctors are called Nurses

Safe to say he's just had a before bed chat about equality and feminism.

Had you said the detective instantly arrested Bob I wouldn't have assumed the detective was a man.

I assume it's because Bob was the only man in the room?

I assume it's because Bob was the only man in the room?

Well yes- but what unconcious bias is being shown in arresting Bob?

Y7 DD got it right away.
Y4 DS said the Dad was also a doctor, so I told him the Dad was unconscious so he immediately went with Mum, but then followed it up with "so isn't that a nurse". To be fair he did just think nurses and doctors were the same job.

surgeon a mechanic and a lawyer.

Again just an assumption,but i guess PP didn't think at first that there would be women too in those professions so was confused how Bob was identified straight away from 3 men present?

NoFucksImAQueen

I'm ashamed to say that we were asked a similar riddle on my access course but with a detective overhearing "no bob" and then a gun shot. in the room was a surgeon a mechanic and a lawyer but he instantly arrested bob. I did not get the answer despite being an avid feminist

I’m guessing that the question was “how did the detective know which one was Bob?” And the answer is that only one of the surgeon / mechanic / lawyer is a man?
Bob being a name that’s almost unheard of for a woman.

.... and the unconscious bias being that surgeons, lawyers, mechanics are automatically male.

Such a good riddle to illuminate bias!
Both my DH and uber feminists DD just failed to answer this correctly.

DH didn't get it and I told him I was disappointed. He reminded me that when he'd told me his mum had been to the cardiologist yesterday, I had asked "what did he say?" and had to be told that the cardiologist is a woman.

This is depressing - dh got it wrong.

There was a program on recently about classrooms being gender natural
They asked a class of 8 year olds to draw a mechanic magician etc and they were stereo typical answers

They changed the cloak rooms from boys/girls to just pupils etc

It was an interesting program and the results were excellent - even the kids bedrooms had a clear out of typical bit girl divide toys

They even look at gendered TShirts and rearranged the slogans - some parents had never thought of what messages they give to their kids

I can remember decades ago when I first read that riddle and I remember being stumped. I've progressed, but not as much as I would like.

and the unconscious bias being that surgeons, lawyers, mechanics are automatically male

Eh ? Where is that coming from? The only bias is the assumption Bob is a man.

I’m guessing that the question was “how did the detective know which one was Bob?” And the answer is that only one of the surgeon / mechanic / lawyer is a man?
Bob being a name that’s almost unheard of for a woman

Yes - so where is the bias in assuming that in a room where you know someone is called Bob and there is one man and 2 woman that Bob is the man?

Just tried it on my 18 year old ds, 16 year old dd and my dh...only dh got it!

Didnt even occur to me either. I'm female and in a 'typically male' job role and still just assumed the doctor was male.

In fact the way my mind worked was that the catch was the man/father in the accident was also a doctor and therefore couldn't operate because he was also a patient.

We effectiveness when I was at school ( in the late eighties). I was so angry with myself for not getting the answer that I have never forgotten it. Sad that nothing has really changed in thirty odd years !

Again just an assumption,but i guess PP didn't think at first that there would be women too in those professions so was confused how Bob was identified straight away from 3 men present?

Really? Is that the explanation? I couldn't see what point the poster was making. It's bleedin' obvious that to be able to identufy and arrest Bob there can only be 1 man and 2 women in the room.

Good grief- I'm the poster who doesn't call herself a feminist.