Over the years I have noticed that television programs (especially the PBS ones) about plastic surgery procedures tend to hypnotize the females in the room and any impassioned pleas from men to change the channel are met with “death to you” looks accompanied by various negative comments.
Women of my acquaintance that might scream for help at the sight of a spider are will sit there entranced by the most grotesque procedures imaginable where bodies are slit open and liposuction probes lanced repeatedly into the flesh, or skin just below the nipples sliced open and implants crammed in, noses broken and cartilage removed, faces flayed open and tightened like flesh shoe strings(I’m getting woozy just typing this) etc etc. It’s just a chamber of horrors. Most men I know (doctors excluded) no matter how tough, really don’t like this stuff at all.
How can you women stand (must less enjoy watching) this terrifying stuff?
I’ll tell ya what makes my husband oogy, is when I steal the remote and make him watch:
LABOR AND DELIVERY on TLC
babies! New babies! born right before your eyes, C-section, forceps, legs spread wide open WHILE ANOTHER HUMAN BEING emerges from between them, all covered in goop and some sort of white, dusty substance like the inside of a balloon.
And I always ooh and aahh and say how sweet and wonderful it is.
meanwhile, mr. Jarbaby is vomiting up alfredo in the corner.
As for me, I don’t mind spiders or lizards or frogs or snakes, but I REFUSE to watch anything bloody, whether it’s surgery, special effects, or the news. My husband is fascinated by “The Operation” and I retreat to the computer room. So, to answer your question, no, all women aren’t like that.
Oooooohhh!!! I LOVE this show. This one and “Trauma: Life in the ER”. Did you see the one with the guy who had a serrated knife plunged into his skull?? Absolutely amazing!!!
My favorite line from labor and delivery though, was when this hispanic woman came in, and they’d given her so much medication that she was too groggy to push. It took like eons to get the baby out and they told her that they would have to use forceps because
I don’t mind watching the occasional childbirth show on tv, but I don’t think I’m up for witnessing it or participating in it in real life, and spiders don’t scare me, unless they’re poisonous to humans. I like spiders because they kill all the other bugs that are real pests. However, I don’t go for watching plastic surgery. I think that people should be informed about plastic surgery because from what I’ve seen and heard about it, recovering from it can be quite painful. I truly don’t understand how any person would want to go through that, but hey, to each his/her own. Now, astro, after that BEAUTIFUL description you provided in the OP, you’ll excuse me if I go faint.
What a silly question! Of course all women are not like this. I personally can’t stand watching those operation shows. I was flipping past, and one woman had had a ceasarian, and her uterus was lying on top of her stomach like a big, icky, deflated balloon. Bleah. I almost broke the remote trying to change the channel. OTO, spiders etc. are neat-o, in my opinion. They cause Mr.Mielikki to shriek and run away. I guess we’re not a typical couple that way.
Heh, when “Labor and Delivery” came on the TV while I was at my girlfriend’s house, not only would she not watch it, but she wouldn’t let me watch it either. She was adamant; she wasn’t joking around: It was something I “don’t need to see.” She even went so far as to stand in front of the TV and block my view (since I had the remote).
It was very weird. And she acted strange the rest of the day.
But I love all those medical shows, especially the surgical ones.
The best one I can recall was a case where they were inserting external “struts” on a girl’s spine to correct her scoliosis. They had her face down on the operating table, and had opened her back from neck to tailbone.
They had to drill sideways through the vertebrae at several places so they could mount these stainless steel rods on either side of the spinal column, to provide tension and straighten the poor girl out. But one of the holes they drilled wasn’t quite big enough for the post that attached the rod to the spine, and so they were HAMMERING this rod into her spine.
Finally, after much banging and pounding, the post slipped through rather abruptly, and the girl’s whole body jerked on the operating table, as if she had been shocked or something. My first thought was “oh my God, they just paralyzed her for life!” But no, it was nothing out of the ordinary… whew!
The only other operation I’ve seen that entails so much heavy construction work is a hip replacement. That one was impressive.
I’m always watching that kinda stuff (although I’m a guy). I used to watch the operation show everday until they started showing re-runs and it was the same stuff over and over again. The only kind I didn’t like watching was feet surgery. Yucky! Now spiders on the other hand make pass out almost. I hate those buggers with a passion. Talk about creep me out! Ms. Tiki has to kill them whenever I see one.
Medical shows are usually just fine. The only time one really made me queasy was, in fact, a “The Operation” show on a facelift. The doctor made an incision from the peacefully slumbering lady’s ear down more or less along the jawline, and then helpfully demonstrated to the viewing audience that the face is really only anchored to the head at a few points.
He did this by putting his entire hand up into the incision into her cheek, skin cheerfully bulging and stretching as he moved it around underneath.
That affected me worse than any scene of ribs being laid open, or childbirth, or really much of anything else. Just something creepy about it.
Nopenopenope! Ever since we caught that one “X-files” episode where the plastic surgeons killed their patients with liposuction machines, NEITHER of us is interested.
[sub](X-files seems to do really well at finding our limits.)[/sub]
When my son was born (a long, long time ago) I was in the Delivery Room. Almost passed out. And the mirror was in poor shape and I couldn’t really see all that much. I don’t see how doctors and nurses do it.
I like the Surgery Channel (TLC) to a point. I’m interested in the trauma treatments, but can’t comprehend elective cosmetic surgery. My husband gets queezy at any of it.
My older son was born by unplanned caesarian, and my husband was in the operating room with me, by my head and screened from the surgery. He did not want to see the surgery, even thought the surgeon invited him to take a look. But, after they took my son out, the doctor said, “Tim, look at this,” and he looked. And, eight years later, he still hasn’t gotten over it.
BYW - the baby was 23" long and weighed 10 lbs, 4 oz.
The Childbirth exhibit at the Boston Museum of Science has birth videos more graphic than the ones they showed us at the Childbirth Classes when Pepper Mill was pregnant. Our almost-four daughter (MilliCal) loves this section, and one day we all sat watching the childbirth videos. (I realized that I was the only male there.)
Well, they showed the pregnant woman and her husband in the hospital bed, walking around, taking a hot bath to get things moving. It got pretty boring for MilliCal, and she sighed: “Why is it taking so long?”
All the mothers looked at her and laughed a bitter laugh.
I’m a guy and those shows don’t bother me. However, I don’t know how I would handle witnessing surgury or child birth in person. I’ve never notice this type of tolerance breaking down along gender lines, but I have seen break down along past experience. People who grew up on farms seem to handle blood and guts stuff better than city/suburban folk.
ASTRO—I think I’m one of the gals you’re looking for.
I DO NOT watch “doctor” shows at all much less the surgery shows.
HOWEVER------I DO watch the PLASTIC SURGERY ones—because I’m very interested in the procedures that are currently open to us as I’m contemplating having some work done. I try not to WATCH the actual work being done as I DO find that gross.
I believe that the expense of it is what stops MANY people from having things done. Sure is stopping me.
No, all women aren’t like this, or any other generalization. However, * THAT * aside, I love watching the Medical Detectives, and Forensic stuff on both the Discovery & TLC channels. The HBO autopsy stuff is usually a bit too much though.
Trauma on TLC is great, and yeah, I DID see the guy with the huge knife stuck in his head too. I couldn’t get over he was still alive!
