# How come TV commercials for medications now refer to the doctor as "she". **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 10, 2018, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-tv-commercials-for-medications-now-refer-to-the-doctor-as-she/812182 "2018-04-10T20:28:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Steven\_Estes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Steven\_Estes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steven_Estes)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2018, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-tv-commercials-for-medications-now-refer-to-the-doctor-as-she/812182/1 "2018-04-10T20:28:02Z")
How come TV commercials for medications now refer to the doctor as “she”. I have noticed this in recent years. I can think of a number of possible reasons, but none is entirely plausible. Any idea? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2018, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-tv-commercials-for-medications-now-refer-to-the-doctor-as-she/812182/2 "2018-04-10T20:43:25Z")
Because a doctor could be either a man or a woman? I haven’t noticed a wholesale shift to exclusive “she”…I’ve noticed that they often refer to “your doctor” as “he or she”, though. Because doctors come in both varieties (and, sometimes, in neither or both in the same person). ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2018, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-tv-commercials-for-medications-now-refer-to-the-doctor-as-she/812182/3 "2018-04-10T21:10:05Z")
The answer to “why do commercials do X” is always “in order to get more customers and earn more money for the company paying for that commercial”. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2018, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-tv-commercials-for-medications-now-refer-to-the-doctor-as-she/812182/4 "2018-04-10T21:25:06Z")
Women can be doctors now? What is this world coming to??? \<—that was, as we in the industry call it, sarcasm, for those of you who have no sense of such things. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2018, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-tv-commercials-for-medications-now-refer-to-the-doctor-as-she/812182/5 "2018-04-10T22:13:21Z")
Why not? Not only does it help erode a harmful stereotype, it also stands out as progressive, which is vaguely associated with inventing good new medications. ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2018, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-tv-commercials-for-medications-now-refer-to-the-doctor-as-she/812182/6 "2018-04-10T22:36:09Z")
I imagined use of “she” as being well-correlated with the drug in question being for “women’s issues”, which gives the doctor’s recommendation an additional air of legitimacy. E.g. “I’m having period pain, and my doctor, who has also probably experienced period pain as opposed to just having read about it in books, recommends omniaxiprozil”. One thing I have never seen is a male spokesman referring to his explicitly-female doctor. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2018, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-tv-commercials-for-medications-now-refer-to-the-doctor-as-she/812182/7 "2018-04-10T22:52:33Z")
Did they ever refer to the doctor as “he”? If so, why? ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2018, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-tv-commercials-for-medications-now-refer-to-the-doctor-as-she/812182/8 "2018-04-10T22:55:45Z")
> [@Steven\_Estes](#): > > How come TV commercials for medications now refer to the doctor as “she”. > I have noticed this in recent years. I can think of a number of possible reasons, but none is entirely plausible. > Any idea? What are some of these possible but not plausible reasons? Please, join us in this conversation you started. I see you have 84 posts and 66 of them are new threads. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2018, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-tv-commercials-for-medications-now-refer-to-the-doctor-as-she/812182/9 "2018-04-10T23:33:48Z")
If you’ve ever written for publication where you need a pronoun for a generic person, you can use “they” (which often makes no sense) or the traditional “he”, or vary it between he and she (not the same person) which seems fairer. And sometimes just using she if there is only one use in a piece is safer. Which might be happening here. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-tv-commercials-for-medications-now-refer-to-the-doctor-as-she/812182/10 "2018-04-11T00:04:41Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > If you’ve ever written for publication where you need a pronoun for a generic person, you can use “they” (which often makes no sense) or the traditional “he”, or vary it between he and she (not the same person) which seems fairer. And sometimes just using she if there is only one use in a piece is safer. Which might be happening here. More than that, it’s become quite trendy in recent years to substitute “she” for the previously invariable “he” presumably to make up for all those years in which woman were rendered invisible by the generic. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-tv-commercials-for-medications-now-refer-to-the-doctor-as-she/812182/11 "2018-04-11T00:08:56Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > More than that, it’s become quite trendy in recent years to substitute “she” for the previously invariable “he” presumably to make up for all those years in which woman were rendered invisible by the generic. This is the answer right here. It’s not that the commercial features some medicine that is “woman-focused” or anything else. “He” was always the default. “She” signifies a forward-thinking corporation that if is on the front-lines of social equality, must be on the front lines of medical research. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-tv-commercials-for-medications-now-refer-to-the-doctor-as-she/812182/12 "2018-04-11T00:53:35Z")
I suspect this isn’t even true. First of all, 34.4% of all doctors in the U.S. are female and 65.5% are male, as of October 2017. (Some people on this survey didn’t mention their sex.): > **[Professionally Active Physicians by Gender](https://www.kff.org/other/state-indicator/physicians-by-gender/?currentTimeframe=0&sortModel=%7B%22colId%22%3A%22Location%22%2C%22sort%22%3A%22asc%22%7D)** > > Filling the need for trusted information on national health issues What percentage of doctors in recent commercials on American TV are referred to as “she”? I suspect that it’s less than 34.4%. Does anyone here have any accurate statistics about what percentage of doctors are referred to as “she” in recent American TV commercials? No, your offhand guess doesn’t count. So why do you, Steve Estes, think that most doctors on commercials are referred to “she”? Because the times that doctors are referred to as “she” are the ones that jump out at you, while the ones where doctors are referred to as “he” don’t. This is not intended as a personal insult to you, Steve Estes. We all do this. Everyone tends to remember cases of things that are surprising to them and forget the ones that don’t surprise them. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-tv-commercials-for-medications-now-refer-to-the-doctor-as-she/812182/13 "2018-04-11T01:04:12Z")
Also, what kind of medications? If you are talking about medications for women or children, it is quite likely that the family doctor actually is a “she”. I mean, there are still male doctors, but demographics and demand shuffles them towards other areas. ---
**Author:** ![Steven\_Estes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Steven\_Estes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steven_Estes)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-tv-commercials-for-medications-now-refer-to-the-doctor-as-she/812182/14 "2018-04-11T07:06:51Z")
Al of the replies to my question miss the point. If the number of “he” and “she” in TV medical commercials were 50-50 or if they simply mirrored the relative numbers of male and female doctors, I would have no question. But it seemed to me that the overwhelming number of recent medical commercials now use “she” to refer to a doctor, rather than “He”. If this is so, it can not be explained by 50-50 or the relaiuve numbers of male and female doctors. I recorded two TV channels yesterday and eight of seventeen medical commercials. Nine used no pronoun and the other eight all used “she”. A small number sample, but if meaningful there must be a reason. Perhaps it is because women are positively affected by the pronoun and men don’t care. Or because women buy most of the medication. Or advertiser are being progressive, though this is unlikely if the advertisers don’t also believe ti to be profitable. What is the reason. That is my question. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-tv-commercials-for-medications-now-refer-to-the-doctor-as-she/812182/15 "2018-04-11T09:30:42Z")
I suspect it is because there are vociferous groups who will pounce on any assumption that a doctor (or any other professional) is male, while there are no such groups for the opposite assumption. In the UK, we don’t get medical adverts, but I have noticed that those for domestic products usually now feature men in situations that used to be seen as a female preserve: ironing, cooking, washing etc. More power to their elbow, I say. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-tv-commercials-for-medications-now-refer-to-the-doctor-as-she/812182/16 "2018-04-11T13:06:07Z")
> [@leahcim](#): > > One thing I have never seen is a male spokesman referring to his explicitly-female doctor. Here’s one that springs to mind: [at about 0:15: “So I talked to my doctor, and _she_ said…”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drCWcLnWGP8) ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-tv-commercials-for-medications-now-refer-to-the-doctor-as-she/812182/17 "2018-04-11T13:10:15Z")
> [@Steven\_Estes](#): > > But it seemed to me that the overwhelming number of recent medical commercials now use “she” to refer to a doctor, rather than “He”. I was going to suggest it might just be confirmation bias, or that you were noticing the "she"s more because they went contrary to your expectations, but it looks like you’ve already anticipated that and tried to get an objective count. So I’m inclined to agree with **Exapno** and **Ambivalid**. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-tv-commercials-for-medications-now-refer-to-the-doctor-as-she/812182/18 "2018-04-11T13:26:15Z")
How hard would it be to say “I spoke to my doctor, _who_ recommended this drug that costs too much, doesn’t do much of anything, and has 197 bad side effects.” How is the gender of the doctor even relevant? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-tv-commercials-for-medications-now-refer-to-the-doctor-as-she/812182/19 "2018-04-11T13:39:03Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > I suspect it is because there are vociferous groups who will pounce on any assumption that a doctor (or any other professional) is male, while there are no such groups for the opposite assumption. I can’t speak for the UK, but we don’t have pouncing vociferous groups like that here in America. But we are in the midst of a thread asking how come TV commercials for medications now refer to the doctor as “she”. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-tv-commercials-for-medications-now-refer-to-the-doctor-as-she/812182/20 "2018-04-11T13:44:00Z")
It would be useful to do a larger sample. Could people please note the pronoun used for a doctor on any medical TV commercials they see for the next few days? Please post what you see. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-tv-commercials-for-medications-now-refer-to-the-doctor-as-she/812182.md?page=2)