True fact from recent Thai national statistics: 80% of all dentists in Thailand are female. (My regular dentist is male, but I had to have some specialty work earlier this year, and the oral surgeon who works with my dentist is female.)
I’ve also used two female dermatologists at Samitivej Hospital over the years (LOTS of skin diseases pop up over here), both quite good. And last year I had some non-cancerous polyps burned into my vocal cords from indigestion, and the eye-ear-nose-throat specialist who treated me at BNH Hospital was female. Both of these hospitals mentioned are up-to-date Western facilities that are among the best in Southeast Asia; one of those dermatologists, while she did not graduate from Yale, she did have a training certificate from there. The female oral surgeon works in a simple neighborhood office, though. But I’m quite used woman doctors.
When I’m told to see Dr. So-and-So, it’s usually easy to tell if the doctor is male and fenale, because although the Thais do have surnames, it’s always the first name that’s used after Mr. or Dr. etc. For instance, Dr. John Smith would always be called Dr. John and never Dr. Smith.
I don’t like the term male nurse at all. TV and movies do a crappy job showing what RNs do. Ben Stiller in Meet The Parents has a lot to answer for. I don’t know any docs who would sneer at a man who was an ER RN.
My husband tells a good story about educating someone at his workplace in some fact of OB/GYN wisdom they were misguided about. Being married to an RN whose whole career has focused on this aspect of service, he has absobed quite a bit of not-common knowledge. He was challenged by a girl who loudly claimed she knew about these things because her mom was a nurse. “My wife is an RN in Labor and Delivery at Community.” he says. “Well, my mom is a nurse…'s assistant.” she said as she slunk away.
I have also been asked why I married an inventory specialist when “all those cute doctors” were running around the hospital. I always said I wouldn’t have an OB/GYN on a platter. They work crazy hours and forget the anesthesiologists–72 hours on? No thank you.
You still hear the term “Sister” here in Australia though RN is by far the more usual term. A few years ago when “Sister” was more common the male RNs didn’t bat an eyelid at being addressed as such…because being “Sister” was something we all, male and female, aspired to.
Hate: male nurse. If I hear the name Robert Smith, I can figure out that he’s male.
Hate: coed. This term is over 100 years old. Aren’t we used to female college students yet?
And may I add: tomboy.
How many decades has it been since it was unusual for a girl to wear pants, run and play and get dirty, and not want to spend 100% of her time indoors, wearing a dress, and playing with dolls or helping her mom? At least four, right?
Instead of tomboy, can we say “normal girl”?
Unoriginal reporter interviewing female celebrity: “So, were you a tomboy?”
Female celebrity: “I was a normal girl. I did all the normal things: soccer, swimming, piano lessons, ballet.”
It’s sad and it does come from Dads sometimes too. I have a good friend who says exactly that. " Anne and I can’t both be there Friday night, I have to babysit."
It tells me everything I need to know about how he regards being a parent- or at least being a parent to that particular child.
Being a freelancer meant that I would frequently be the only Dad in a sea of Moms and toddlers at the local playground. I got that question a lot but as much as it rankled, I realized that not much would be gained by angrily replying to each and every Mom who used the “b” word with me.
Instead I chose to reply in a more publicly acceptable and less insulting manner than the one used on me when asking if I was babysitting.
" Ah, and you would be Gramma, then? "
[sub](I’m lying. I never said anything of the sort. I just let it go. )[/sub]
Or male stripper, but gender matters with hookers and strippers, it doesn’t when it comes to nurses.
It matters in porn too. After making the mistake of clicking on a link that said “two hot teens make out,” I now make sure that titles have some indication of gender before clicking.
