Women: a poll regarding male gynecologists and male medical students

In My Humble Opinion
61

Hope y’all don’t mind some male nurse annecdotes.

During my OB rotation, with 1 nurse I shadowed I had about a 50% rejection rate, none of the others were near that high. My instructor confirmed that once, when we were talking in the break room and I had my back to the door, this nurse walked in and threw a nasty look at the back of my head. This was before we’d actually worked together, so I think she had a problem with guys in OB.
The last shift I worked I had to give a 20 something a shot in the butt. First I offered, like I always do, to get her a girl nurse if she preferred, but she said no problem and went on to tell me how she’d always had girl doctors until her last pregnancy for which she’d had a male, ‘and he was great.’
IME, lousy, crusty, burned out female practitioners don’t get magical when a baby or a vagina are in the room.
ETA, and for the love of Og, tell someone before you tough them, every single time.

One of the ER docs I work with did some kind of workshop in VegasBaby and he said the volunteer (paid, I assume) fell asleep in the stirrups.
Dogzilla, and others, I would encourage you to speak up about rotating the speculum, or any other things you’ve observed that help. I promise you that most of us want to hear that stuff. We may not always be able to comply, it may not always work, and, in fact, I’ve had people tell me some lame stuff on occasion, but everyone’s a little different and some people are a lot different, if life has taught you something about your body that I may not know, please don’t hesitate to share. Please.

If I was going into OB, I would not hesitate to ride the stirrups to get a feel for what it’s like, and an icebreaking annecdote.

ETA, and for the love of Og, tell someone before you touch them.

62

Well, tell 'em to STOP THAT, or one of 'em might catch a foot to the jaw one day. :smiley: Ask the instructor if HE has ever played Tetris.

63

I don’t have to anymore. I have an awesome (female) OB/Gyn who does this as a matter of routine. The ARNP I saw before her at the girly clinic also rotated the speculum first. I’ve been getting basically “pleasant” pelvics for years, if a pelvic could ever be considered pleasant.

Generally, docs don’t tell you which way they intend to insert, so it’s in and I’ve already gotten hurt by the time I’d have a chance to open my mouth and speak up. It makes me super grumpy and then I’m an asshole to the doc for the rest of the appointment because I assume that they obviously don’t give a shit about me or much of anything that might be on my mind. This is why I go to women. I think the direction of speculum insertion has probably never occurred to most male docs. Even those who do play Tetris. :wink:

So, ladies, the second you see your doc put their hand anywhere near the speculum, say something then.

64

Every OB/GYN I’ve seen has been male, and I prefer it that way. I certainly would not mind a male medical student: how else are they going to learn?

65

Wait – how do you know you prefer it that way if you’ve never seen a female OB/GYN?

66

Back in the late '90s I was a temp. One of the other temps let me know when one of the Sacramento schools was signing people up as practice patients for pelvic exams. I never went, but was told that the pay was $20 per exam, plus they’d give you pizza for lunch.

67

Hmmm… prostitution would be more lucrative. :wink: As long as your going to rent out your va-jay-jay…

68

I like my OB/GYN to be male. I can’t see ever going to a female. Prefer is the wrong word: it’s one of those things I’ve always done, and I don’t see it changing. If something happened to the one I’m seeing, I would not look for a female.

69

Hmm. Maybe it’s because I tend to go to university clinics, but I can’t remember the last time there wasn’t an extra person in the room as a CYA policy-- sort of like leaving the office door open. Other than the nurse assistant, though, the doc has always asked if I minded whether a student would be present (“Hell, whatever I can do for education”).

ETA-- Oh, and I don’t really care about gender. A medicalized cooch is pretty medical, I figure.

70

Strong preference for female gyno. Very strong. Though I’ve run into asshole female docs, and wonderful male docs, I just really don’t want a strange guy sticking anything “there”. I freely admit this is my own irrational prejudice… and were I ever to develop, say, cancer of the girlybits, I’d have to get over that in a real hurry if the best specialist happened to be equipped with different plumbing than I am.

71

As someone who has given birth… let me tell you, by the time you’re in hard labor they could march the entire (male) graduating class of the nearest high school through the room and you would NOT CARE.

I did get peeved, after Dweezil’s delivery, when the doc (an asshole female) was stitching up my massive tears while my legs were pointing at the ceiling, and some random male medical person was standing in the room lounging against the doorway. I wish to this day I’d asked he be sent out of the room (it was one more checkmark on the list of reasons why the “care” I had at that hospital was degrading, agonizing and downright incompetent).

72

:eek::eek::eek:

Stay in school, kids.

takes moment to appreciate own crappy job

73

Actually in “ye olden days” when social moors were much stricter and female medical students were few and faw between prostitutes would be hired to “model” for medical students to practice on. My great aunt went to medical school in the '30s and this was standard operating procedure (also at the free clinic she did rotations at only “coloured women” ever had students examine them, for a white women students could only observe).

74

If your current OB/GYN were retiring and he recommended a female OB/GYN he knew as a replacement, would you ask him to recommend a male instead?

I am not being snarky: I am just curious, as this seems odd to me.

75

I don’t really have a preference - I have allowed a med student in the room before for a pelvic exam. I guess I just don’t think my “parts” are all that unique. Like one of my oldest friends would say “If you see anything you haven’t seen before, shoot it!!”

Right now, I have a male OB/GYN - He’s great! I love it when he tells me I’m in good shape - “for my age”!!
Note - This is only funny because he is at least as old as I am!!

76

I have a strong preference for women in most circumstances, this is no different.

My GP is a man and I really like him, however he isn’t doing internal examinations. I only go to female gynecologists and wouldn’t be comfortable going to a male gyn., or having male students sitting in on a pelvic exam.

77

Just in case I offended the OP (and I assume not, but just in case) - I don’t have a preference for a female OB/GYN because I think men are less compassionate or less capable or less anything. I’ve had female OB/GYNs that were brusk and perhaps a bit rough with the bits; however, I’m just more comfortable with brusk-rough-with-bits-woman that I am with a man. My thing - no fault of the man in question.

78

In the day, I wouldn’t have objected to the presence of a male students in the room. I’m all about furthering learning and being a useful human being. But over the years I’ve gathered up a few unpleasant experiences which have made me more conservative in my generosity.

My first gynecological exam was in a military hospital as a young bride. After they had me all set to show and tell they opened the door and in came about fifteen young men near my age who stood at the foot of the table and stared at my parts as though they were all watching a football game. I hadn’t been asked or notified beforehand. It was a fair surprise and I handled it well, I think, being a pretty open-minded young woman. But I felt inside as though I had been trapped in a porno.

Since that time I have had a male gynecologist of my age - thirtyish at the time - finish the exam by having me sit up and put my legs down, placing both of his hands firmly on my thighs while he stood between my legs, looking me intimately in my eyes and ssying, “You are at the very prime of your life.” I said, “Thank you,” hopped down off the table and never returned. Naw. He couldn’t have really been propositioning me, could he? I couldn’t tell but it felt pretty uncomfortable. Later I heard he had lost his license to practice because of sexual issues with patients.

On vacation once I saw a middle-aged gynecologist for acute pain in my lower side. He asked me to describe it and I told him it felt like I was sitting on my cervix. He laughed and dismissed the whole issue. “Sweetie, you can’t sit on your cervix.” (No duh. Doc, I know that. You asked me how it felt.) Later I found out that I had an ovarian cyst.

My next gynecologist was old enough to retire. Still not a good choice. He excused himself and left me, legs in air, for quite a while. I finally got off the table and ventured into the hall to find him in his office discussing an upcoming golf game on the telephone. So much for feeling like you’re a priority while you’re hanging in the air.

Since then it’s been all female gynecologysts for me.

Incidently, having worked for the military and in a couple of hospitals I have been privy to break room talk and staff gallows humor. So sometimes I wonder if every one of those young men were really practicing to be a gynecologist and whether they had a little fun at a young woman’s expense.

Well, didn’t hurt me any other than I can still remember the feelings of humiliation and helplessness after all those years.

79

It would be interesting to see how many of us who voted for the last choice are under thirty.

80

Yeah, I probably would. It’s what I’m used to. And there are several in his practice, so I wouldn’t have to go far: my current OB/GYN and another in the same office were in a practice with the gentlemen who delivered our two children. I feel comfortable with them.