Men are afraid of women doctors
What an irony. Men chase women, men lust after women, men long to find the right women to love. Yet, a man just can’t handle a woman as his doctor. Since most doctors are men (or at least they used to be; I think the ladies are taking over medicine fast), we men used to not be worried about a woman doctor being assigned to us for our health issues. Things have changed.
Women, on the other hand, have subjected themselves to male doctoring for eons. Most women don’t care about the physician, as long as the clinical diagnosis is sound (or at least satisfies the woman as a patient). But not men. We shudder at the prospect of a woman seeing our bodies in a professional capacity — other than being with a hooker, but I digress (and know little about that … only what I have heard).
And it starts young. I remember the time when our son, Brian, had to take a grade school physical for P.E. or sports. This particular school had a female doctor, and Brian came out of the room, glaring at his mother, and shouting, “Mom, she touched me!” I am not sure he ever recovered from that traumatic happenstance.
My first experience occurred at Bitburg Air Base in West Germany when I was assigned there to fly F-15 Eagles. At that time, the Air Force had no women pilots and very few female flight surgeons — the doctors trained to take care of pilots. Since I keep a diary, I know the date exactly: April 6, 1982. In March that year, I turned 36, and the Air Force, in its inimitable wisdom, decided that pilots nearing the age of 40 should have a prostate cancer exam. Not just a blood test but the probing, digital examination almost no men want. (I have a friend nearly my age who has never had the rectal exam; he said, “I would rather die of cancer than have someone do that.”)
At the base, I was assigned a male flight surgeon, Dennis Burkett, who normally saw me for flight physicals or to dispense medicine, so I calmly went to the base clinic, knowing that Dennis was a good friend, and I figured the exam would be something I could handle. I arrived at the clinic only to find out that Dr. Burkett was gone on leave or something. The sergeant technician said to me, “Maj. Russell, Dr. Burkett is not here today, so Dr. Huey will be doing your exam.” I gulped.
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