# Only a doctor could get away with this **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 8, 2004, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-a-doctor-could-get-away-with-this/244222 "2004-05-08T21:03:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![START](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@START](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/START)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2004, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-a-doctor-could-get-away-with-this/244222/1 "2004-05-08T21:03:03Z")
Did anyone see Xtreme Makeover the other night…the doctor said “Let me take a look at your breasts” and the lady opened up her top, I thought that was funny, I imagined any average joe saying that to a woman and the reaction he would have got. ---
**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2004, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-a-doctor-could-get-away-with-this/244222/2 "2004-05-08T22:14:59Z")
_Back off man, I’m a scientist._ ---
**Author:** ![Zcrysis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zcrysis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zcrysis)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2004, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-a-doctor-could-get-away-with-this/244222/3 "2004-05-08T22:27:41Z")
In high school, this was considered the number one reason to consider a career in medicine. That and gynecology. ---
**Author:** ![Beauty\_Personified](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e480ec/32.png) [@Beauty\_Personified](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beauty_Personified)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2004, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-a-doctor-could-get-away-with-this/244222/4 "2004-05-08T22:29:25Z")
I tried this the other day… _“I’m a doctor. May I see your boobies?”_ Didn’t work. But then I realized what I did wrong, and tried again later with another woman… _“I’m a doctor. May I see your breasts?”_ She thought about it for a second, then questioned if I was really a doctor, and walked away. I tried again, the next day… _“May I see your breasts?”_ As soon as I said it, I realized I had forgot to mention I was a doctor. However, before I could even attempt to cover up my mistake with a joke or something, she said… _“Just a second. I’ll be right back.”_ 😕 Then, when she came back, she said… _“Here they are. How do they look?”_ :eek: Then I realized I was at KFC. 😃 Anyhoo… ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2004, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-a-doctor-could-get-away-with-this/244222/5 "2004-05-08T23:11:48Z")
Even for us docs, it all depends on context, **START**. If you say “let me take a look at your breasts” in the wrong context, you might get slapped. If I say that in an inappropriate context, I could lose my medical license and go to jail. So it’s not all peaches and cream for us medical professions, you know. When I do those sorts of exams in context, even on gorgeous women, it’s **ALL** business. ---
**Author:** ![Tabby\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tabby\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabby_Cat)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2004, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-a-doctor-could-get-away-with-this/244222/6 "2004-05-08T23:14:37Z")
> [@Qadgop the Mercotan](#): > > Even for us docs, it all depends on context, **START**. If you say “let me take a look at your breasts” in the wrong context, you might get slapped. If I say that in an inappropriate context, I could lose my medical license and go to jail. > > So it’s not all peaches and cream for us medical professions, you know. When I do those sorts of exams in context, even on gorgeous women, it’s **ALL** business. You get to do THAT sort of exam on females? Don’t they, like, ask for a female doctor? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2004, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-a-doctor-could-get-away-with-this/244222/7 "2004-05-08T23:22:00Z")
Membership has its privileges. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2004, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-a-doctor-could-get-away-with-this/244222/8 "2004-05-08T23:28:54Z")
> [@](#): > > You get to do THAT sort of exam on females? Don’t they, like, ask for a female doctor? Some do, but most don’t. Surprisingly, a lot of women–in my experience, those of about my mother’s age, around 50–much prefer to have a male gynecologist. I admit that if I were going to have a rectal done, I’d much rather a man do it. Believe me, there’s no glamour in it whatsoever. Like **Quadgop** says, it’s all business. It’s actually one of my least favorite parts of the job. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2004, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-a-doctor-could-get-away-with-this/244222/9 "2004-05-08T23:50:36Z")
> [@Qadgop the Mercotan](#): > > Even for us docs, it all depends on context, **START**. If you say “let me take a look at your breasts” in the wrong context, you might get slapped. If I say that in an inappropriate context, I could lose my medical license and go to jail. > > So it’s not all peaches and cream for us medical professions, you know. When I do those sorts of exams in context, even on gorgeous women, it’s **ALL** business. Considering where you practice, I imagine the opportunity doesn’t present itself all that often. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2004, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-a-doctor-could-get-away-with-this/244222/10 "2004-05-09T00:10:41Z")
> [@DoctorJ](#): > > Some do, but most don’t. Surprisingly, a lot of women–in my experience, those of about my mother’s age, around 50–much prefer to have a male gynecologist. I admit that if I were going to have a rectal done, I’d much rather a man do it. > > Believe me, there’s no glamour in it whatsoever. Like **Quadgop** says, it’s all business. It’s actually one of my least favorite parts of the job. Heh. I’m 46, and I have a slight preference for female gynecologists. However, I think that the best medical professional who ever did a pap smear/yeast test/other female problems was a man, a physician’s assistant. He was considerate, quick, and gentle, yet thorough. Basically, I don’t view getting gyn exams to be sexual situations, and I don’t really care that much about the sex of the person doing the exam. Male examiners DO need a female chaperone, apparently, for either legal or insurance purposes, and so a female examiner won’t have to wait for a chaperone. In my experience, MOST females are a bit gentler than MOST males, but there are always exceptions. So I won’t refuse to have a male examine me just because he’s a male. My husband, on the other hand, is very shy about revealing his private regions to females, and I’ve told him that he should get a male physician since he feels this way. I figure that any male medical professional (nurse, medical technician, whatever) has seen PLENTY of female bodies, and is quite unlikely to react inappropriately to mine. Undressing or being naked or nearly naked in front of one does not bother me at all. ---
**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2004, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-a-doctor-could-get-away-with-this/244222/11 "2004-05-09T00:26:28Z")
Concerning people being embarrassed about medical procedures, my RN friend once remarked, “To a nurse, your ass is the same as your face.” ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2004, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-a-doctor-could-get-away-with-this/244222/12 "2004-05-09T00:44:23Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > Considering where you practice, I imagine the opportunity doesn’t present itself all that often. The prison where I work is co-ed. We average about 10-20 female admissions a week (versus 200 males a week). The females almost all need pelvics and pap smears. Usually my (female) nurse practitioners do it, but I am on occasion called upon to verify abnormal findings, or help make diagnoses. And from 1986 to 2002 I was in private practice, and did _thousands_ of breast and pelvic exams. Let me echo **DrJ** : It was my _least_ favorite exam. ---
**Author:** ![KP](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a9adbd/32.png) [@KP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KP)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2004, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-a-doctor-could-get-away-with-this/244222/13 "2004-05-09T01:02:41Z")
I’d go further. To a medical profesional, your ass is much less interesting than your face. I may still notice a pretty face on patient, but below the neck, it’s all just flesh. I’d go so far as to say that physicians are probably MUCH more likely to be swayed by a pretty face than a perfect pair of breasts or any display of genitalia. As social primates We’re hardwired to respond to faces, and studies have shown that practitioners do statistically respond differently to “attractive” patients than to “unattractive” ones. The nudity taboo, on the other hand is just cultural training: a National Geographic photo that sends some American pre-teens into a frenzy (assuming they they aren’t all that fundamentally different than the ones I went to school with) is just another ho-hum Thursday for the pre-teens of that village. Having said that, I should say that the “medical conditioning” is pretty thorough, and illustrates how articifical and shallow the nudity taboo is. OB/GYN was my first clinical rotation in med school, and as green as I was, breast exams (which involve more than just looking) were nuisances by the end of the first week. In fact, I’m vaguely disgusted by the idea that any student could find it tittilating [no pun intended] by the end of the second week or so. I’ll let some female practioner address _their_ reactions, but in my experience, it seems to be much the same. ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2004, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-a-doctor-could-get-away-with-this/244222/14 "2004-05-09T13:56:15Z")
> [@Qadgop the Mercotan](#): > > And from 1986 to 2002 I was in private practice, and did _thousands_ of breast and pelvic exams. Let me echo **DrJ** : It was my _least_ favorite exam. Lemme tellya, it’s not generally most women’s favourite either. I once had a pap smear done by a doctor who asked me to lay on my side, with my legs spread just so, and he went ahead and put in the speculum (cold) and did the exam that way. I thought it was weird, but I never thought to question. I found out later that said doctor had been asked to leave the practice due to other… abnormalities… in his methods. I had my first full pre-natal workup last week, by a doctor who my husband has known his entire life. I have never been so uncomfortable as this time around. Full pelvic, manual and smear, and breast exam, with my husband sitting there watching. Bleah. ---
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2004, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-a-doctor-could-get-away-with-this/244222/15 "2004-05-09T14:25:21Z")
> [@GingerOfTheNorth](#): > > Lemme tellya, it’s not generally most women’s favourite either. > > I once had a pap smear done by a doctor who asked me to lay on my side, with my legs spread just so, and he went ahead and put in the speculum (cold) and did the exam that way. I thought it was weird, but I never thought to question. I found out later that said doctor had been asked to leave the practice due to other… abnormalities… in his methods. > > I had my first full pre-natal workup last week, by a doctor who my husband has known his entire life. I have never been so uncomfortable as this time around. Full pelvic, manual and smear, and breast exam, with my husband sitting there watching. Bleah. The “best” smear I ever had was from a women and I was on my side. I’m ummm tight down there, and tend to tighten when nervous…that equals major ouch. This woman doctor (who was actually a locum) asked me to lie on my side and it was the most comfortable smear I ever had. I don’t care if the doc is a him or her, I hate them equally. ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2004, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-a-doctor-could-get-away-with-this/244222/16 "2004-05-09T15:26:08Z")
> [@calm kiwi](#): > > The “best” smear I ever had was from a women and I was on my side. > > I’m ummm tight down there, and tend to tighten when nervous…that equals major ouch. This woman doctor (who was actually a locum) asked me to lie on my side and it was the most comfortable smear I ever had. > > I don’t care if the doc is a him or her, I hate them equally. I actually found that this was the most uncomfortable one I’ve ever had. I guess that in this as in everything, YMMV. Coulda been the way he was looking at me like a piece of prime beef, though. ---
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2004, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-a-doctor-could-get-away-with-this/244222/17 "2004-05-09T15:32:28Z")
> [@GingerOfTheNorth](#): > > Coulda been the way he was looking at me like a piece of prime beef, though. Never had that problem 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Merkwurdigliebe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/74df32/32.png) [@Merkwurdigliebe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merkwurdigliebe)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2004, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-a-doctor-could-get-away-with-this/244222/18 "2004-05-09T16:05:22Z")
I think I could understand this: Any of you guys ever been to a topless beach before? Its kind of disapointing. The whole reason why men are obsessed with breasts is that we don’t get to see them normally, but when you get to se a pair for free for no good reason, I usually find myself surprised. I think. Wow, those are technically nice breasts, but there is something missing than when someone deliberately uncovers theirs so you can see them in a sexual sense. ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2004, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-a-doctor-could-get-away-with-this/244222/19 "2004-05-09T19:17:40Z")
> [@Qadgop the Mercotan](#): > > And from 1986 to 2002 I was in private practice, and did _thousands_ of breast and pelvic exams. Let me echo **DrJ** : It was my _least_ favorite exam. So since you had a least favorite, that means there were favorites, right? May I ask what job made you go “Sweet! I love to do those, but they almost never come in”? I mean I have stuff like that in my job, it just seems weird for a medical professional to feel the same about their work as I do mine 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2004, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-a-doctor-could-get-away-with-this/244222/20 "2004-05-09T19:56:14Z")
> [@Zcrysis](#): > > In high school, this was considered the number one reason to consider a career in medicine. That and gynecology. I’m as enthusiastic about women’s soft parts as the next guy, but I wouldn’t want a gynecologist’s job. No way - Nuh uh. Even the incidental exposure I’ve had to the pathology of poonanny sometimes haunts my waking hours. What kind of nine-to-five would _that_ be? “Doctor, is this normal?” :blanche: “No. No it isn’t.” _One down, sixteen more to go. We’re gonna get through this day._ [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-a-doctor-could-get-away-with-this/244222.md?page=2)