Have I understood this correctly?

[Shufflebumnessie]

I'm sue to attend my local hospital for an internal ultrasound (transvaginal).
The accompanying information I've recieved states 'If you have a preference of the gender identity of the person responsible for performing the examination please let us know in advance so that we may be able to accommodate your request'.

If they're going by gender identity, does that mean even if I specifically request the examination is performed by a female medical practitioner, I could still end up with a male (who claims to be female)? Or have I misunderstood?

Remember the male nurse who identifies as a woman who wanted to carry out a smear test on a female patient who had requested female staff only?
https://inews.co.uk/news/health/nhs-woman-transgender-nurse-smear-test-114009
and the female patient in Bristol who asked for a female member of staff for intimate care and was told by the Trust she couldn't because they didn't record sex of staff only gender beliefs?
https://policyexchange.org.uk/publication/gender-identity-ideology-in-the-nhs/

I wonder how many women have excluded from medical care and smear tests due to NHS contempt for women like this.

An elderly lady I knew well before her death refused home care because all the providers said she would have to accept any one who identifies as a woman to help wash and dress her. It left her very vulnerable til her death.

It's cruel and inhumane- most nurses and home care staff are female and so in most cases female requests for same sex care are easily respected.

How much of a threat is enough? What evidence do you require? How many women have to be affected by this? I am a live and let live woman. I genuinely do not care about men in womens toilets. But I do care very much that women will self exclude. How can women live normal life without using toilets outside the home? Where else can they go. Women dont piss in the street like men, there isnt always a handy bush nearby. So are those women stuck at home and close to home, just like a hundred years ago we were?

And even though I'm live and let live about the toilets, it doesnt give me the right to give them away unilaterally. I cannot speak for all women.
Add that even I wouldn't want a man to do anything like medically intimate procedures on me, so why would I expect other women to be ok with that?

Is it that you havent thought about it? Do you just think "oh well I dont care for me"
Its the stanniland? Question all over again. Are you ok with grown men showering next to my pre teen daughter. Are you ok with grown men showering next to your daughter, your mum, your sister, you?

You know, we all know men are the biggest perpetrators of crimes.
We know, we have the stats from year dot.
Men are generally bigger, we know this.
Men are stronger, we know this too.
What is it about men that means we really dont want them in our single sex spaces? Hmmm. I just cant figure it out.

I'd probably be comfortable with a male HCP.

I would not be comfortable with a male HCP who identifies as a woman not because of what he may or may not do in his personal life but because a man can only believe/claim he is a woman if he has disordered, sexist and regressive ideas about women's minds and women's bodies.

It's not about how he sees himself, It's about what he projects onto women. It's no different to being given intimate care by a man wearing a T shirt with a misogynistic slogan.

We should not accept being guilt tripped into accommodating men who belittle and disrespect us, who see us as stereotypes not individuals.

@FlirtsWithRhinos That's an interesting post which I will consider further.

When hospitals and NHS staff wear ideological trans flags I find it a very hostile environment. It signifies they support the constant campaigns of LGBT groups to remove female human rights, privacy and dignity, especially forcing women /girls to get undressed with men and 'transing' gay people. And it's deeply offensive (hence why I think all political/ ideological flags/ badges should be banned from NHS staff, police etc)

I had a transvaginal scan done for a uterine fibroid when DD1 was 4mo old. I had naively assumed it would be a woman undertaking the scan and was quite surprised to find it was a man, but I had baby DD with me and I knew she was running low on patience so didn't like to ask for a woman instead and have to wait longer.
He was so rough inserting the scanning wand and really shoved it into my vagina, I was in complete shock at it, especially so newly postpartum and things hadnt settled down so it hurt.
I wish in hindsight I'd complained about him because it still bothers me now when I think about and that was 9years ago.

It's completely put me off having a male for any gynae procedure and I would need to know if I was having a TV scan that I'd if requested a female it would bloody well be a biological female and not some man pretending to be a woman and demanding I play along with his lies. Because I damn well wouldn't and would kick up a right old stink. And mine is a 'low level' trauma compared to what other women have been through. Why are they even entertaining this fucking bollocks, I am so sick of it. Women and men need to know that they can request someone of their own sex for intimate procedures and actually get someone of their own sex, not have a lie foist upon them and pressure not to make a fuss.

Precisely. A man with blatant fetishes that he forces other people to witness is not someone who should be doing medical examinations on anyone, let alone intimate examinations on women, the objects of his fetish.

I would not be comfortable with a male HCP who identifies as a woman not because of what he may or may not do in his personal life but because a man can only believe/claim he is a woman if he has disordered, sexist and regressive ideas about women's minds and women's bodies.

Well put.

If you ask for a woman and get a man who says he is a woman - yes that IS the issue. It’s a flipping medical environment - if they can’t tell men from women they are either lying or very very stupid.

I would certainly give a toss!

When I had a mammogram recently the wording was along the lines of ‘it is a female only clinic and all the staff are female’. I did wonder what that meant (female or women) but they were all actually women.

I wonder if this is because where I am it a very Arab/asian/muslim area (staff and patients) so they wouldn’t get away with it. Other hospitals I have been to (in different areas) have very different vibes (rainbows lanyards and pronoun all over the place).

It's been really interesting and enlightening to read all of your replies. Thank you for all taking the time to engage with my post and I'm so sorry to read that some of you have had awful experiences.

I'm not sure of the best way to describe it but I guess I have low level medical trauma relating to anything gynaecological due to how I was treated by (mostly) male medical practitioners as a child with gynaecological issues. The thought of a man being involved in my upcoming appointment just made the whole thing even worse!

I finally managed to speak to someone earlier today in the ultrasound department and was assured that all transvaginal ultrasounds are carried out by an all female team. The person I spoke to was very quick to assure me that by female, it meant biologically female. I'm still not looking forward to the appointment but that's a weight off my mind. Perhaps they need to specify that on the information that is sent out!

I recall having a mammogram a couple of years ago (thankfully given the all clear) and it was 100% staffed by women and the vibe was so different to any other medical setting I've been in. It was warm, comforting & supportive from the moment you walked in.

Thanks once again for all your input.

Very glad to see your update, OP!

So glad to read your update, OP. I hope all goes well.

But regarding "The person I spoke to was very quick to assure me that by female, it meant biologically female. ... Perhaps they need to specify that on the information that is sent out!"

They daren't. Management are either in thrall to gender ideology or terrified of the gender ideologues.

I'd write to the hospital op and say that you found the wording on their information leaflet concerning and while you were pleased to be reassured before your appointment other patients could be deterred from attending.

I finally managed to speak to someone earlier today in the ultrasound department and was assured that all transvaginal ultrasounds are carried out by an all female team. The person I spoke to was very quick to assure me that by female, it meant biologically female. I'm still not looking forward to the appointment but that's a weight off my mind. Perhaps they need to specify that on the information that is sent out!

That's great to hear, and yes they do.

I wonder if these were all professional too?

https://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/news/23895167.doctor-guilty-sexual-assaults-wycombe-aylesbury-hospitals/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-68614217

https://www.cps.gov.uk/london-south/news/former-gp-jailed-life-sexually-assaulting-patients

Shocking to google 'doctor guilty sexual assault' and have so many pop up and all in the last year. There were others.

I haven't been for my mammogram yet because the hospital will not assure me no men will be there.

So in solidarity with all women who need this to be single sex, I wont go until they state, no men of any gender.

Oh, and OP, I know what you mean by having a positive experience with an all-female team. I've had mammograms and smears regularly and have had some really pleasant, funny, warm and humane experiences with women-for-women services. There's a wonderful young woman at the mammogram centre near me who is lovely and unjudgmental that even an old, fat saggy woman like me feels completely at ease stripping off and being manhandled. Don't know how she does it, but it's great. I leave there on a high.

There have also been times when women have treated me like an unpleasant piece of meat, sadly.

My own view is that resistance needs to be visible. I would attend an appointment for mammograms/smears/vaginal ultrasound and if it turns out to be a TW, I would withdraw any consent and refuse to proceed until the clinic provided a female bodied person.