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?

Because job hunting is BLOODY hard as a 50 year old woman. if you tell me people don't judge on age and gender you are very naive.

Again it's very egotistic to think anyone is laughing at the complainant.

If my FEMALE colleague flippantly thought "ooh what a nice useful genderless title, like Dr" and chose the drop-down option with less than a minute's thought...

And ended up provoking a lengthy public complaint accusing her of being a trans man masquerading as a woman, and then she had to be dragged shame faced to the headmaster's office, and possibly unleashed a political maelstrom reaching the headlines of the national broadsheets and tabloids...

Yes we'd be darkly chuckling a tiny bit at her prior cluelessness and the absurd irony of her situation. I think most people would be.

Doesn't mean we don't take the complaint seriously or think systems can be improved.

This, btw, is an entirely fictional scenario I find amusing (albeit based on real life experience). There is no need to get outraged over my crappy sitcom.

The person's sexuality is immaterial. Their sex is relevant. Not all female practitioners are good, but they're more likely to have an understanding of what is painful for a woman.

The only one sexualising this is you.

I’d ask if they are or ever were biologically male. If yes (or refuse to answer) I’d make another appt specifying it must be with a biological woman. I wouldn’t be nasty, just matter of fact. Of course I could only do this if it was obvious they weren’t female. I don’t have a problem with fully transitioned male to female if they are convincing (as I’d be none the wiser). Man in a dress, no. All academic for me though as I no longer have smear tests since having a full hysterectomy.

So we should all use Miss or Mrs? And declare our marital status to all?

I agree with you whole heartedly - but legally I thought people were on shaky ground if they asked about biological sex. Isn't it deadnaming and such like?

if someone is a trans man or trans woman, they would more than likely use the suffix appropriate to their chosen gender. Mx is unlikely to be trans.

'doctors' genders should be spelt out clearly to patients'

Staff gender beliefs about themselves are irrelevant to women who need someone of the same sex to carry out an intimate procedure. This is about biological sex, not religious beliefs about gender.

Ms has been around since at least the 1700s.
Its not new

It’s the same as saying Mr. ie neither identifies married status but both identify whether you are male or female ( or at least they used to )

What would a non-binary "male" use? The Eurovision winner Nemo is non-binary - I'd get a right land if they rocked up to do my smear!

Zero probably.

They might not get judged on their gender but they’ll get judged for using Mx, so seems a bit pointless.

Exactly, I just think this whole "gender critical" is just a way of keeping women in their traditional boxes.

Can't give you the numbers, but I've seen a few on social media. In real life, I subbed for a male teacher who went by "Mx".

You do know that lesbians have smears too? I doubt very much lesbian nurses are getting off on carrying out smears.

To add, smears are not just for heterosexually active women. If you have a cervix you need smears.

Non-binary males tend to use "Mx".

Yes, I can see this point…how much better though if we could just have a check box to tick at online appointment or reception to say we need a same sexed practioner and it to mean biological….
jeez, it did used to work that way when you asked for a “ lady doctor”

You can advise that you don’t want to see a particular doctor or nurse without having to give a reason. You don’t need to run away crying, just ask to rebook the appointment with somebody else. There are two doctors at my GP surgery - one male, one female - who I just don’t think are very good doctors / we don’t see eye to eye, so I don’t see them. It’s never been an issue.

We have a Mx, who is female, looks female and sounds like it. It seems to be the Mx is only related to who she likes to sleep with.

An idea.

if you're unsure, email the surgery and say "I have a smear booked on x date at x time. Could you confirm that I will be seeing a female clinician for this please"

The rape crisis team where I live only hire women.

I reckon there's a strong chance that whoever put the nurse onto their text reminder computer system just never put their gender/sex in and that's what the automated system uses by default. My clinic letters say MISS with my full name including my middle name which I hate but it can only be rectified through a lengthy beurocratic process by someone in a distant department who I have no way of contacting

You can say you will only see a female at Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre. What you can't say is "what sex is Geraldine" or what ever. They are not allowed to share that information with you.

That won’t work. A female clinician could be a transwomen

You would need to say something more specific like biological female.

That's crazy even our gp surgery all the staff have female or male written next to them for anyone who has a preference

If it was an intimate procedure and the doctor's sex was unclear, I'd be ringing to clarify. So no different to what the OP did.