What “rights”? It’s her opinion, based on her experiences. Now, if she had posted that males should not become Gynes because of their XY makeup–that’s sexist.
You can choose to not see a female doc as much as you want–if you had similiar experiences as did the OP, I doubt anyone would mind.
Listen, “penis.”
I titled my pitting because of MY experiences with Male Gynos. And I clearly stated that “I” will never see a male gyno before and I think I thoroughly backed up my reasoning.
I also CLEARLY stated that others have surely had different experiences, and I highly suspected it was just me. (As you stated, you read that part, so we’ll both agree on that.) But five experiences which were either a) disrespectful, b) ignorant, or c) did not even bother to diagnose me correctly leading to further problems has led ME (reiterated: ME) to never ever see a male gyno again.
I am not ignorant, so don’t even play that game with me. I am about the farthest thing from sexist a person can be, so that is one of the most ridiculous statements a person could make about me. But MY experiences have led me to make THIS conclusion, and if it’s a problem for you and you see it as sexist, then fine and shut the fuck up.
Inky.
And I apologize for the “penis”, but you began your response to me with a completely inappropriate remark and I am terribly, highly hormonal, emotional and frightened about my health right now, so…I’ll leave it at that.
Can we just pit fucking doctors then? I’ve been to two different ones in the last year because when I walk up a flight of stairs I get really out of breath. So what do both of them tell me? Nothing, that walking up stairs makes people out of breath. I’m begining to think that doctors just don’t listen.
I am male, so can’t totally relate to a lot of what you’re going through. (although you do have my complete sympathy) I certainly hope you can find a gyno that treats you properly. Of all places one should be able to expect respect and understanding, it’s your doctors office.
Russell
[minor related rant]I am slightly annoyed at every time I ring up my doctors, they ask me if I would mind seeing a male doctor. WTF? If I wanted one, I am sure I could ask. I almost reply “Actually I would prefer a male doctor since we all know females are the stupider sex”, since we’re propounding stereotypes and all. (They don’t ask if males want a male doctor)
But what I couldn’t believe was my final year anatomy class, where we have a tute that involves feeling and showing each others surface anatomy, there was a “female only” group. I can understand if it was for religious reasons, but it wasn’t. Why does the university have to pander to these people? How are you meant to learn about the difference in sexes if there is no males in the class? Again, no male equivalent. [/mrr]
Sometimes I think doctors are trained not to listen. They seem to just want your money and to get you out of their office as quickly as possible.
I went to the emergency room on Friday because I was such extreme pain (my head, neck and back) that I had missed two days of work. It wasn’t until after a few hours when I simply stopped bothering to look up, sit up or move at all whenever they came into the room that they finally seemed to take notice that I was actually in pain, which is so stupid because that was why I was there in the first fucking place. I basically had to be a drama queen to get treatment. The whole thing took over four hours. Such bullshit.
In the spirit of YMMV, I’ll give props to my gentleman snatch doctor, who may not have a snatch himself, but has the hands of Yo Yo Ma. Superb PAP administration. In January I had a hysto to remove the Mutant Fibroid Junkie Uterus of the Damned (I asked the SD to save it for me so I could perform acts of retribution on it with chopsticks and a butane torch, but he declined 
)
If you can stomach the Barbie color scheme and grown women calling themselves ‘princesses’, Hystersisters has a lot of practical information about handling a hysto.
You were breathing, that makes you a low priority
And not bleeding. Or giving birth imminently, or evolving an MI under their very noses. There is a hiearchy in the ED as to who is seen first. Sadly, pain in the neck doesn’t usually get to the head of the line.
IF you go to ER, expect to wait several, if not many hours for treatment (here in the US, in or near major cities, anyway). There are any number of reasons for this, and it does truly suck, but there it is.
FWIW, I once got a pelvic exam from a female PA (physician’s assistant) who used a speculum which was way too large despite my entreaties, jammed her hand in as if she were doing a grab bag, made me BLEED (no, I was not a virgin and I was not having my period, thanks), made a point of showing me her glove with the blood on it (with a big fucking grin on her face) and stood in the doorway talking to her colleagues with THE FUCKING DOOR OPEN WHILE I WAS UP ON THE TABLE WITH MY CROTCH WIDE OPEN FACING THE HALLWAY BEGGING HER TO SHUT THE GODDAMNED DOOR!!!
While my experience may not have been typical, and I have encountered marvelous PAs since, I swore to never let a PA near my pelvis again.
Fair? Probably not. But that’s the way people are. They learn by experience, even if that means overgeneralizing.
Get over it, DrDeth. The OP is angry, hurt and scared.
ARGH! I hate this! I’m already in the most undignified position I can be in, please shut the door so other patients don’t turn their heads to see why my teeth are chattering because of the breeze caressing my nethers!
I had an awful female gyn in the past - my first PAP ever and I came out of there with - seriously - bruises on my naval and all over my breasts. I had read a little pamphlet the nurse had given me beforehand about what to expect, and it had said to speak up if anything the gyn was doing hurt in any way. Good god damn, everything she did hurt like hell, and I am no wuss. I have a very high pain tolerance - she was leaning on her two fingers on my nipples! I gritted my teeth and bore it out until I had tears in my eyes - pain tears, not emotional tears - and I told her that it hurt, quite a bit. She grunted at me and told me it had to hurt if she was going to find anything. The hell?! I came out of there a little shaken, but believing that that was what a PAP was supposed to be like.
When I moved out here, I got a new female doctor, and she was so much gentler. She did make me bleed, but she warned me ahead of time that it would probably happen, and she apologised. She talked me through every single thing she did, telling me before each thing what she was doing and why she was doing it. She’s a keeper.
Inky, I’m so sorry for what you had to go through. I’ve never had to go through that experience with a male gyn, but I have heard many, many horror stories. I won’t go to a male one, just out of sheer uncomfortableness, and frankly, when I’m in for my PAP, any level of comfort I can get, I’m taking, thanks. Most of it really is based on the biased idea that many male doctors cannot possibly know what it is like to be female, lacking the required parts themselves. That probably makes me sexist when it comes to gynecologists, but so be it. It’s **MY ** body the gyn is dealing with, thankyouverymuch, **I’ll ** be the one to say who I want poking around in there and who I’d rather not, when I have a choice in the matter. And if a man felt the same way towards a woman doctor regarding his dangly bits, it wouldn’t bother me in the least. Do what you gotta do to be comfortable.
Um, so you basically spent the class period checking each other out? I can see the practical applications here, but doesn’t this strike anyone as the least bit odd and uncomfortable?
Please, do clarify.
So I’m a guy, I just finished an OB/Gyn rotation (no I’m not going into OB/Gyn). While I do think that a doctor should just be judged on her/his merits, and one shouldn’t discount someone just based on her/his sex, I feel the OP’s pain, just from experience.
It took me a good 15 speculum exams, 10 bimanual exams, and 5 breast exams before I felt comfortable that I wouldn’t hurt patients who weren’t apprehensive. For women who didn’t immediately leap into the stirrups and put their butt on the edge of the table, I was still pretty uncomfortable, and in fact, pretty often defer the exam to the resident.
[squick mode]
I just don’t have the machinery. I don’t know what hurts and what doesn’t. Spreading the labia minora and avoiding direct pressure on the urethra are key, but it isn’t immediately obvious how to do this, even for women. I start at a double disadvantage, maybe a triple disadvantage because I don’t know where the cervix is and this means I’m often digging around a bit. Couple this with at the community hospital we used the old Paps that you shouldn’t use lube, so it was kind of a little water and go. Not that fun.
[/squick mode]
Now, in our OB/Gyn department, the majority of the men OB/Gyns seem remarkably well trained, as empathic or more than the women, really nice guys, fantastic surgeons, and well respected. No idea what it feels like to be examined by them, though.
Yes they do.
Not if you’re in final year anatomy. It’s anatomy. It’s about the body. We’re meant to be looking at the body from a scientific and unbiased POV. If you’re odd and uncomfortable about that, don’t do anatomy. Learning surface anatomy is an integral part of the course, and males and females differ in this respect, and the sexual differences are important.
If you’re ok cutting up a naked, dead male body, why aren’t you ok just touching (or being touched by) a dressed male one?
It kind of reminds me of a pharm. prac I heard about (I didn’t take the course, but many friends did). In this course, everyone had to take a drug, then measure the clearance by peeing in a test jar, carrying it down the hall, and everyone in your group examined it. Again, involves taking a scientific and unbiased view to a normally personal thing. It’s what science is about. Sure it seems strange to some people (If I hear one more time, “You mean they just GIVE you a dead body and you CUT it up?!”…) but we’re in final year, it’s about time some people started approaching everything with a professional perspective.
Not at my surgery.
And on an actually related note: The only doctor I have screw up with my nether regions was a female. I had to sit a urine test and 2 pelvic exams because she got confused about my symptoms. I had 4 appt’s and on the final one, she decided that she had no idea what it was, rattled off the symptoms I had told her about (which I would correct her on every visit, since she had written them down wrong the first time) and actually listened to me correct her this time. Once she realised what my symptoms really were, she wrote me out a script, it worked, and I haven’t had the problem since.
No, no apology nessesary. BTW, it’s “Mister Dickhead”. 
However, the bit about “Ink a dink a dink, “you ignorant bitch”.” was supposed to be a funny misquoting of the line “Jane, you ignorant slut”. It wasn’t funny, I can now see that. For that I apologize. :smack:
I don’t back down from the fact I still consider your OP very sexist. However, I am going to guess you posted while angry, and didn’t think about it before posting. Read it back over to yourself, hmm?
I still think you got a raw deal, and I am sorry all that happened to you.
Inky, I hope everything works out for the best and you never have to deal with a jackass doctor (of either sex) again.
All my bad experiences in the GYN department have been with female docs. I used to have insanely heavy periods and such horrible cramps that I would pass out from the pain. In the subway, in class, whatever - out like a light, slump to the floor. I saw two female GYNs about the problem, and was told to suck it up, take some advil. Periods hurt, get over it. It was like a female macho thing - if I can handle the pain of my period, so can you, you sissy.
It wasn’t until the third doctor I tried, a male this time, that it was suggested to me that I try the pill to see if it would reduce my periods a little. And thank God for small miracles that come in a 28-day pack.
I’ve never had a male gyn, and I never want one. It’s not that I have a problem with a male doctor examining me- I mean, it’s a doctor; it’s nothing personal. It’s just that I feel that it’s impossible for a man to fully comprehend what goes on with female parts, and how I’m feeling in regard to those parts.
Or riding in on the ambulance with a 27 blood sugar. Or riding in on the ambulance with a 927 blood sugar. Either one of those will get you the front space in line, too. 
Ink a dink, you’re not fat, sister, you sound just right. I can’t understand the attitude problem aimed at women who are more than just bones. It’s insane, don’t listen to idiots like that.
If you saw my Pit thread inspired by my last male doctor, it would be obvious why I too have permanently sworn off male doctors, after having a dismally bad run of them for the past many years, and having found several excellent female doctors.
The only male doctor I ever knew who was really a great guy was Dr. Rafal Badri of Cleveland. He’s originally from Iraq. I’ve heard it said that Iraqis are really nice people. This one was a good example. One night when I had to go to the ER with a busted gall bladder, he left home and met me there. The desk delayed checking me in while I groaned with pain; he shouted at them for being idiots and found a wheelchair for me and personally pushed me to a room upstairs. My hero! He took out my gallbladder and it healed up and I was fine. 
You know the saying “the exception that proves the rule”? Dr. Badri cared for me right after the first U.S.-Iraq war in 1991.
I feel so sad for the Iraqi people, look what they’re going through. We seriously fucked up Iraq.