Smear appointment reminder with a Mx

[catin8oots]

Have a routine smear booked at my local surgery and just received a reminder text saying it will be with Mx Firstname Surname.

I have no idea if this person is a biological woman or a biological man.

Can I call and ask?

I think it depends. Overall I'd be pretty unhappy with my cervix being messed about with by a man I don't know. On the other hand, I had a male midwife when DS was born and he was brilliant - though at that point a green and blue spotty alien with tentacles could have delivered my baby and I'd barely have noticed.

I have a friend who has been through the male to female surgery. I suspect that because of all the messing about they've had around their genitals they'd be very gentle and emphatic and leering or assault would be the last thing on their mind (luckily they work for the computer science department at a university so highly unlikely they'll be doing smears!)

But in other circumstances Id be very unhappy indeed and given how vague the surgery are being I'd share your discomfort OP

Why are there females who specialise in male reproductive health?

I thought Mx was gender neutral and used by people who my choose not to adopt a gender identity?

Jack Monroe used it for a while including when appearing in an advert.

How will the practice prove she is a biological female?

Didn’t know Mx was a thing. Never heard of it.

The only way around that as far as I can see, is use their own wording. 'were they assigned female at birth'. As much as it would make my hackles go up.

What has the world come to when as a woman we are too afraid to ask and have confidence our doctor for the test is a woman and a biological one at that.

'I do know Keri and I can assure you that she is female.' sounds quite conclusive, but given the Mx and the rest of what she said, I'd be cautious and turn up fully prepared to leave the appointment without having been 'done' if necessary.

Good advice above though about making your boundaries clear and leaving a paper trail.

All sorts of reasons I imagine, an area of medicine they have found they excel in? I for one am grateful to the male consultant whose expertise made it possible for me to have my child after a period of infertility, and wouldn’t like to think that he could have been dissuaded from his field because of his gender.

I first saw this years ago on an online questionnaire I had to complete before a dental appointment.

You are perfectly entitled to ask and I work in this area and always say if Male or Female if asked. It makes a huge difference to alot of people for many different reasons.

"Transmen" are women as in adult human females. If you list "women" and "transmen" separately you turn "woman" into a gender identity - that is, something nebulous in an individual's brain - rather than a sex. Many members of this forum find this highly offensive.

Walking out on the spot is all very well but I travelled an hour for a mammo recently. I don't want to go all the way and then have to walk out because Keri or whoever is a man. Small chance I agree. But I don't want to be examined by a man. No trauma; just don't want to.

Apart from Mx Monroe I've encountered it maybe 3 or 4 times in 10 years working in the advice sector. All sounded female on the phone.

It's been used for a few years to indicate "Non-Binary".

I've seen it once in real life. Did a bit of supply at a secondary school. The class was shared by two teachers, both absent.

They had laminated name plates that they stuck on the door when they were in. They were both stuck on the wall to the rear of the teacher's desk when I was there. One just had the name: "Miss [name]". The other had a cartoon of a bloke with a beard and "Mx [name]."

The quickest way of finding the class on the e-register was via the teacher's name, so I asked the class "Is this one of the days you get "Miss [name]?"

Boy: "No, we get Mx [name] the day. He says it's our fault he's not well, but we know he's on holiday with his boyfriend." I decided to go temporarily deaf at that point.

The e-register includes the teacher's title: it allows you to choose from "Miss, Mr, Mrs, Ms, Dr, Prof" or "Other".

You were told they were a woman and you still tried pick a fight. What did you want the receptionist to do - send you a photo of the nurses fanny

Playing devil's advocate here, some automated systems insist that a 'title' is added to a person's name (e.g. Dr, Ms, Prof). If you don't select one, it can't cope so adds a generic title like Mx.

That doesn't help you, I know, but it's not necessarily obfuscation - just a computer system that has to have a title.

You can also ask to have a chaperone for any medical appointment - either a friend/relative or a member of practice staff (of your own sex, if you ask). You can also request care from same-sex practitioners, if it's available.

Fwiw - and I'd offer feedback to the practice on this. It isn't transphobic to ask that you receive care from someone of your own sex, where available. Lots and lots of people - for religious or cultural reasons - prefer this and will ask for it. There's a male nurse at my practice and both when booking appointments and at the appointment itself reception staff and he always ask if I'm okay with being treated by a male nurse (and I am).

Ask that staff name and sex is included on the website. My practice does this. It's especially helpful when staff have names that aren't obviously male or female (e.g. traditional Sikh names can be be given to boys or girls, or more modern English language names like Morgan or Taylor which both men and women can have).

Isn't it just a typo? S is literally next to X on the keyboard.
Mx Keri instead of Ms Keri?

Nope. It's a non-binary title. I've seen it at work. Never met the bloke, but his cartoon pic (on his name plate) showed him with a full beard.

Isn't confirming the sex of someone who identifies as NB to anyone a no no? Wasn't just asking if she could confirm the biological sex of a NB counsellor to a sexual assault victim what brought the bullying shit storm down on the head of the woman working at Edinburgh Rape Crisis? The organisation ran at that time by a transwoman, who is still working there.

It's ridiculous but the person at the clinic may have stuck their neck out by answering the OP's query.

Mx is a non binary title yes, but I don't get your example at all –what's having a beard got to do with it? Mx isn't used to mean woman.

That's because he was rubbish at it.

I've had 6 or more smears by a male gynaecologist and all done expertly and with a genuine 'sorry' if it was slightly uncomfortable.

I've also had invasive investigations (no pain relief which was my choice) and internal scans, all by male consultants and they were caring and lovely.

I don't think it's fair to try to tell women they are all useless or don't care.

Mx can be used to denote a man or woman who wishes to be non-binary.

I was responding to the idea that there might have been a mix-up between "Ms" and "Mx", hence my reference to the beard.

Keri is a unisex name though, not feminine. So could be anything tbh.

What are you getting at there?
Ridiculous to imply it's because they're perves 🙄