# Gynaecologists can't tell transwomen from women?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gynaecologists-cant-tell-transwomen-from-women/385585
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [December 26, 2006, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gynaecologists-cant-tell-transwomen-from-women/385585 "2006-12-26T03:53:57Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)
#### Post date: [December 26, 2006, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gynaecologists-cant-tell-transwomen-from-women/385585/41 "2006-12-26T20:55:09Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton]
_Way too personal question_
[/QUOTE]
(Eve whistles nonchalantly to herself and wanders away, sorry she ever brought the subject up in the first place)
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### Author:  [@Burrido](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Burrido)
#### Post date: [December 26, 2006, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gynaecologists-cant-tell-transwomen-from-women/385585/42 "2006-12-26T22:40:27Z")
[QUOTE=Eve]
(Eve whistles nonchalantly to herself and wanders away, sorry she ever brought the subject up in the first place)
[/QUOTE]
Damn, was thinking there was a possible “Ask The…” thread coming. I understand though, your privacy is respected.
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### Author:  [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)
#### Post date: [December 26, 2006, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gynaecologists-cant-tell-transwomen-from-women/385585/43 "2006-12-26T23:52:46Z")
[QUOTE=Shoshana]
Jennifer Finney Boylan claimed on Larry King that her gynecologist couldn’t tell.
[/QUOTE]
Why would someone who used to be a man, go to a OB/GYN?
😕
::: Scratches head, and wanders off:::
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### Author:  [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2006, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gynaecologists-cant-tell-transwomen-from-women/385585/44 "2006-12-27T00:55:21Z")
[QUOTE=Rick]
Why would someone who used to be a man, go to a OB/GYN?
😕
::: Scratches head, and wanders off:::
[/QUOTE]
Well, I mean, I’m no expert on the subject, but I’m sure there are plenty of things a transsexual woman might want a gynecologist to look at - yeast infections, various STIs, etc. I mean, we don’t just go to see the OB/GYN for babies and menstruation.
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### Author:  [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2006, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gynaecologists-cant-tell-transwomen-from-women/385585/45 "2006-12-27T02:46:49Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton]
Do gender-reassignment surgeons take advantage of that? Save a bit of the glans to make a sensitive, arousable clitoris?
[/QUOTE]
Yes.
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### Author:  [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2006, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gynaecologists-cant-tell-transwomen-from-women/385585/46 "2006-12-27T03:23:25Z")
[QUOTE=Velma]
When I get an exam, my gyno also feels my uterus and ovaries, and scrapes the cervix for the Pap smear, so unless they are constructing all that, it’s a poor gyno who can’t tell the difference.
I guess you could say you have had a full hysterectomy, but I still think a MTF would be different no matter how good the surgery. I’m sure the cervix at least would give it away.
[/QUOTE]
I don’t know - my mother had a full hysterectomy, including her cervix (her vagina just “ends” apparently - which I think is weird, but it saved her life - she had cancer - so there is no cervix, uterus or ovaries to feel for. And one of my girlfriends has a reconstructed vagina - reconstructed after giving birth. I’d think if you could get the plastic surgery right on the outside, it might be difficult to tell if you are dealing with MTF transexuals or a woman with a hysterectomy - depending on the initial bone structure. And you probably would thing hysterectomy first - gender reassignment being rather unusual.
However, as Eve points out, you would probably bring up the whole thing during you medical history. Either the hysterecomy or the reassignment surgery sound like they’d be worth mentioning.
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### Author:  [@kimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kimera)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2006, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gynaecologists-cant-tell-transwomen-from-women/385585/47 "2006-12-27T03:49:51Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton]
Does your vagina self-lubricate when aroused? (As posed in post #13.) If so . . . how do they **do** that?
[/QUOTE]
Yes, some do. Cowper’s glands (males) are analogous to Bartholin’s glands (females). They would be further back in a non-intersexed mtf than a “genetic female” but can still provide the same function.
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### Author:  [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2006, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gynaecologists-cant-tell-transwomen-from-women/385585/48 "2006-12-27T10:21:27Z")
^ what he said…
I didn’t mean to offend.
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### Author:  [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2006, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gynaecologists-cant-tell-transwomen-from-women/385585/49 "2006-12-27T10:23:08Z")
[QUOTE=Eleusis]
^ what he said…
I didn’t mean to offend.
[/QUOTE]
Oops, I didn’t realize there were two pages in this thread.
I should have quoted **Uncommon Sense**.
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### Author:  [@Dr.Lao](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Lao)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2006, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gynaecologists-cant-tell-transwomen-from-women/385585/50 "2006-12-27T14:54:30Z")
[QUOTE=kimera]
Yes, some do. Cowper’s glands (males) are analogous to Bartholin’s glands (females). They would be further back in a non-intersexed mtf than a “genetic female” but can still provide the same function.
[/QUOTE]
They don’t produce nearly as much in a genetic male, do they? I mean, they certainly don’t in my experience.
Anyway, while it seems possible, from the examples I have seen of both man-made and natural female anatomy, that a doctor giving an external examination or a lover going down on a transwoman that they would be fooled. A gynecologist, though, is going to wonder why the vagina he sees in front of him is not leading anywhere.
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### Author:  [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2006, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gynaecologists-cant-tell-transwomen-from-women/385585/51 "2006-12-27T15:48:01Z")
[hijack]
I should say here that the therapist’s behavior in Transamerica is not standard of practice and is unethical in several ways. It serves to forward the plot, but not in a way that reflects good care. If I heard from a client that that a therapist behaved in this way I’d be very concerned.
[/hijack]
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### Author:  [@kimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kimera)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2006, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gynaecologists-cant-tell-transwomen-from-women/385585/52 "2006-12-27T16:10:48Z")
[QUOTE=Dr. Lao]
They don’t produce nearly as much in a genetic male, do they? I mean, they certainly don’t in my experience.
[/QUOTE]
It depends on the person. Some males produce very little fluid while others produce a lot. I know some post-op transwomen who have never needed to use lube becaused they naturally produced enough.
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### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2006, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gynaecologists-cant-tell-transwomen-from-women/385585/53 "2006-12-27T16:41:17Z")
[QUOTE=Uncommon Sense]
RE-read his post. He claimed he thought some of them were hot. Second nature (for guys) is to want to mate with said hot chick. Then after that thought crosses your mind you realise that the hot chick used to be a guy.
You’ll never be able to erase the thoughts of the block and tackle that _used_ to be down there.
Barfing ensues.
[/QUOTE]
You know, ISTM – just my WAG, IANApsychologist – that even a **bisexual** male might have that problem, if he discovered he were bedded down with a transwoman.
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### Author:  [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2006, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gynaecologists-cant-tell-transwomen-from-women/385585/54 "2006-12-27T17:43:44Z")
I can’t believe there have been all these posts and nobody addresses the main issue of _TRANSAMERICA_, which is that the movie was overrated and the main character was unlikable but Kevin Zegers is “I know there’s a Gawd!” gorgeous.
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### Author:  [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2006, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gynaecologists-cant-tell-transwomen-from-women/385585/55 "2006-12-27T18:38:13Z")
[QUOTE=Shoshana]
[hijack]
I should say here that the therapist’s behavior in Transamerica is not standard of practice and is unethical in several ways. It serves to forward the plot, but not in a way that reflects good care. If I heard from a client that that a therapist behaved in this way I’d be very concerned.
[/hijack]
[/QUOTE]
I’ll bear that in mind when I see it. Thanks for the heads-up.
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### Author:  [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2006, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gynaecologists-cant-tell-transwomen-from-women/385585/56 "2006-12-27T21:47:08Z")
It’s always my pleasure to point out depictions of gratuitously bad/unethical therapists in television and film.
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### Author:  [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2006, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gynaecologists-cant-tell-transwomen-from-women/385585/57 "2006-12-27T23:02:55Z")
Wait,who the hell is Bartholin? And what in gods name does he have to do with my glands???
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### Author:  [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2006, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gynaecologists-cant-tell-transwomen-from-women/385585/58 "2006-12-28T17:41:02Z")
[QUOTE=Qadgop the Mercotan]
Anecdotally, I’ve had 4 MTF post-op transexuals, and had to check the crotch of all 4 of them at one time or another due to their symptoms, including one of which needed a pelvic exam with a speculum.
There was NEVER any doubt in my mind that they weren’t MTF post-op trannies on exam. Nuh-uh. No mistaking their genitals for the standard issue genitals of XX chromosome females.
[/QUOTE]
So, doc, what gave 'em away? A “Made in USA” label? 😉 Scarring? Too perfect?
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### Author:  [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2006, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gynaecologists-cant-tell-transwomen-from-women/385585/59 "2006-12-30T09:03:36Z")
Coming to a blind end instead of a cervix would be the main giveaway, I would think, realistically. Also maybe abdominal palpitation finding no uterus, although that in itself occurs way more commonly in XX women anyway (surgically).
**Mr. Slant, Uncommon Sense,** and **Eleusis** , I accept your apologies. I like seeing enlightenment spread here. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2006, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gynaecologists-cant-tell-transwomen-from-women/385585/60 "2006-12-30T09:20:30Z")
[QUOTE=Johanna]
Coming to a blind end instead of a cervix would be the main giveaway, I would think, realistically. Also maybe abdominal palpitation finding no uterus, although that in itself occurs way more commonly in XX women anyway (surgically).
**Mr. Slant, Uncommon Sense,** and **Eleusis** , I accept your apologies. I like seeing enlightenment spread here. 🙂
[/QUOTE]
Ah, I have caught **Johanna** in a [catachresis](http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=4738). My morning is complete. 😛
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