Why do men become gynecologists? Wouldn’t it make more sense if women specialized in this field? After all, if a woman tells her doctor that she has this or that condition, I would think another woman would have a better understanding of the situation.
My guess would be because we still don’t have an outpouring of female doctors. In the town where I live we do have a couple of female doctors, but they are so booked up that they don’t take on new patients.
I’ve learned that if someone says something unkind about me, I must live so that no one will believe it.
I’d want to be a gynocologist just so I could sing…
I’ll be seeing you
In all the old falmiliar places
“I must leave this planet, if only for an hour.” – Antoine de St. Exupéry
Are you a turtle?
I would assume women are more comfortable with a male physician. Being male, I feel more comfortable being examined by a person of the opposite sex. It feels more natural even if no ulterior motives are involved.
Not a big deal, though, I’ve gone to male doctors, and the awkwardness is only slight.
Not me. I much prefer seeing a female doctor. In my limited experience, the women doctors have listened to me more and treated me better; male doctors have treated me like a specimen. There have been exceptions in both cases, but generally, I much prefer being seen by a woman.
Teaching: The ultimate birth control method.
aha asked somethng like this before. There are plenty of female gyno’s. I know a few if you need one.
There are lot of female doctors now,but at one time, you know, women had a hard time breaking into the medical field. In the 19th century, there were a lot of women mid-wives who helped women birth babies, but the male doctors felt threatened by them – I’m not so sure about how the men got the women out of the business (laws?) but they did. Many of the male doctors simply believed (as many men in general) that women were inferior and couldn’t possibly be smart enough to be doctors. As for the OP’s suggestion that women “feel more comfortable with men” GYNs – I don’t think so. Not me, and not any women I know. For the longest time, we simply had no choice. I’m STILL uncomfortable with it. I was seeing a woman GYN at one time, but she was always hurried and didn’t give me enough of her time. At this point, I just say oh the hell with it. I’m fairly content with my doctor and just grin and bear it. I think, too, there’s a big difference between a woman doc examining a man and a male doc examing a woman. A woman has to put her legs in the stirrups and get that very exposed position and be “invaded.” You feel very vulnerable.
A man’s equipment is external and I don’t think a man has to assume any embarrassing positions to be examined. A woman getting a pelvic exam would be more akin to a man getting a prostate exam. How do you guys like THAT?
I don’t feel comfortable with doctors at all. My vote is with nurse practitioners (male or female) every time. The care given is just as good, at least for routine checkups, and I’ve found the vast majority of them to be empathetic caring people, willing to actually sit and listen to what you have to say.
My wife prefers women gynecologists, but she was crazy about the male gyno that delivered our first child.
Slightly off-topic story: When my wife was pregnant the first time, I went with her when it was time to listen to the heartbeat. I was there in full sensitive-male mode, to share that special moment.
Well, the moment had a lot less emotional impact than advertised. But while we were there, it was time for a regular exam. I sat up by her head while male gyno strapped on the gloves, and proceeded to stick his hand up my wife a lot further than I’ve ever done.
Now, I intellectually knew what to expect, which was a good thing, because that was all that was keeping me from jumping up and slugging this guy in the face. I was surprised at myself – my impulse was to bellow “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING TO MY WIFE!” Ever since then, I’ve been sympathetic to women preferring female gyno’s…
I have a slight preference for female GYNs, and female doctors in general. I’m definitely more comfortable with a female doc when I’m getting the first pelvic from that particular doc. However, I’ve had a couple of fantastic male docs (and physician assistants) too.
My husband, on the other hand, is quite uneasy about going to see a female doc about any sort of male problem. Particularly about his hemorrhoids.
Lynn
Give a man (or for that matter anyone) a fish and you feed him for a day; teach him to use the Net and he won’t bother you for weeks.
I prefer my doctor to be the same gender as me.
But, individual patients’ preferences do not answer the OP–that is, why does a male become a gynecologist?
I wouldn’t think many people would choose their lifelong profession based on what their future clients may prefer. Generally, a career grows out of a strong interest…hmmmmm…
(And just what does that theory say about proctologists?)
I’m not an OB/GYN, but my doctor once answered your question by telling me how much he loved delivering babies. He was more excited when my oldest son was born than my husband was! He used to joke, that was how he could have lots and lots of kids when his wife only wanted one.
Judy
“Um, according to who? Nothing more than a high brow troll, though occasionally the bi polar personality swung in a constructive direction on innocuous topics.” Omniscient
Would you go to a car mechanic that didn’t own a car, let alone have a license to drive? 
I guess I prefer female OB/GYNs because I’ve never been lucky enough to have a male doctor (in this city) that treated me like a human being. I’m sure it’s not the case everywhere obviously, but I’ve had terrible male OB/GYN experiences (and no, you really don’t want to know!)
Prairie Rose
If you’re not part of the solution you’re just scumming up the bottom of the beaker.
A man’s equipment is external and I don’t think a man has to assume any embarrassing positions to be examined. A woman getting a pelvic exam would be more akin to a man getting a prostate exam. How do you guys like THAT?**
[/QUOTE]
Not a procedure that I have been subjected to yet, so I can’t speak from personal experience.
But Billy Connelly (comedian from Scotland) gives enough of a description, albeit hilarious, to keep me from rushing to see my friendly neighbourhood proctologist.
Knock softly but firmly, 'cause I like soft firm knockers…
A man’s equipment is external and I don’t think a man has to assume any embarrassing positions to be examined. A woman getting a pelvic exam would be more akin to a man getting a prostate exam. How do you guys like THAT?**
[/QUOTE]
Not a procedure that I have been subjected to yet, so I can’t speak from personal experience.
But Billy Connelly (comedian from Scotland) gives enough of a description, albeit hilarious, to keep me from rushing to see my friendly neighbourhood proctologist. 
Knock softly but firmly, 'cause I like soft firm knockers…
‘A man’s equipment is external and I don’t think a man has to assume any embarrassing
positions to be examined. A woman getting a pelvic exam would be more akin to a man
getting a prostate exam. How do you guys like THAT?’
Not much. A prostate can be checked through a blood test these days. I had one of them
just out of curiousity.
I wonder if guys prefer male or female doctors for that kind of digital exam?
Having been a male gynecologist for many years, I can speak to the OP with some degree of knowledge. Many of my patients prefer male Drs. and obviously many pts. prefer female Drs. Primarily the choice depends on how concerned the physician is about the patient’s problems, his diagnostic abilities, skill, training and knowledge and most of all is “bedside manner”.
Most male ob-gyns do not get turned on by women they examine no matter how attractive they may be. This is our profession and breasts are breasts, genitalia is genitalia. A female prefers males or females generally based on previous experiences or on whom her family recommends. I personally have seen female internists on occasion because I felt they were sharp and capable. Gender of Dr. makes no difference to me. I know that if I felt the best trained urologist is a female, I’ll go see her.
Don’t ever say 288 in polite company. Its just two gross!
Actually I didn’t answer the question. I became a gynecologist because I wanted to spend my medical career dealing with happy occasions…babies…joy…happiness etc. There was just enough surgery to satisfy our surgical desires without the need to perform hundreds of different surgical procedures and there is just the right amount of internal medical knowledge that we become familiar without knowing all the medical situations that general practitioners or internal medicine people face. It doen’t take long to understand and become familiar with the typical emotional or physical problems a female patient develop. Sometimes we might be able to evaluate a situation more clearly than a female ob/gyn because we do not have the same problems as the patient. Over 50%of medical school graduates are women and I can assure you there will be more and more female gynecologists.
Just a mini-hijack, answering the question about prefering a male or female doctor for the prostate exam. (I’m at the age where this is now an annual event, oh boy.) I have noticed that, in general, female doctors have smaller fingers, which can make some difference. Other than that, every doctor I’ve been to has been very professional about it. Also, my current doctor, a male, told me that the blood test for prostate problems is only a backup for the physical exam.
What do you want for Christmas, Crow? I want to decide who lives and who dies!