gender and anatomy groups

[renox9]

Hey all, I'm a female MS1 and happened to be paired with three other girls for anatomy lab. The four of us work amazingly well together, we are all looking out for one another and making sure that everyone gets a chance to participate. A few other female students in our lab will come over to our table and express jealousy over our all-gal group because they say that some of the males in their groups are bossy and won't let them perform the dissection (I say don't let them get you down and be bossy yourself! but on with my question...)

I'm curious, has anyone else experienced this or observed this before? Do you think that you could come across the same situation with bossy girls? I haven't heard anyone griping about girls taking charge and being bossy with dissection at my school (yet), do you think this is this a guy thing?

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[jbish]

I'm pretty sure I was a bossy girl in anatomy. I, too, was at an all-girl table and I was so frustrated by two of the girl's general lack of gumption and pokiness that I just took charge. I'm sure if they cared about dissecting they would have (and might have) bitched about me being "bossy."

 

[GrandMasterB]

I had a co-ed group 3 girls and two guys. the other guy and one two of the girls fought it out. i, and the third girl, relaxed and spent the time sneaking out to play on the internet- inculding boards such as this one. didn't matter in the end though- one girl that was intense is going into path, the other guy is going into psych, and I and the other intense girl are going into surgical subspecialties. go figure. anyways, in answer to your question- i think it just has to do with the people you are working with, rather than their gender(s)- seems kinda obvious- no?

 

[Tiki]

I have two guys in my group, and one other female (I'm a female) and I'm really happy with my group. No one is too bossy, and we all seem to get along rather well, sharing the work.

 

[Samoa]

There were 4 guys and two girls in my group. We worked pretty well together, and made sure everyone had a chance to dissect as much as they wanted. But then, we had about 5 scalpels, and at least 2 of everything else. Which was fine, because one member of the group was always at least an hour late, if he showed up at all. So basically we dissected everything from both sides at the same time. It turned out that different areas of the body were easier for different people. Some of us were good at picking apart very fine structures in the head and neck, and others were best at mercilessly cutting away the fascia and getting to muscles and major nerves and vessels. So I think we worked really well together, despite having very different personalities.

But there were some other groups that were REALLY dysfunctional. I look back now, knowing my classmates a lot better, and I can see that there was absolutely no way those particular people would EVER form a functional group together. Though each of them would have been just fine in some other group.

 

[twinklz]

Although I'm only finishing up my second week, I really like my anatomy group. I'm the only girl, but I haven't noticed any problems. Of course, I'm really into cutting. But I told them from the start that I wanted to cut. There's a nice balance, though. A couple laid back to keep us not too serious. A more intense to be able to be up on the material and field a lot of questions. One to rip through the big chunks. One to do the fine detail work. It all balances out, and I don't think it has anything to do with gender. My one complaint is that I'm significantly shorter than the rest of my group, so at times I'm on my tip toes.

 

[soonerpillow]

I really like my anatomy lab group. We have 2 guys and 2 girls and I think we work well together. After the second lab when me and the other guy completely mangled our side of the back, we realized the girls were much better dissectors. I don't think it has anything to do with bossiness or whatever, they're just better at it. So basically they do most of it (but they let us have turns, too), while me and the other guy tell them what they're cutting and what nerve that is and what they need to do next and occasionally hold back a bit of stuff with the tweezers. Oh yeah, and we lift the cadaver in and out of the tank and flip her over when it's necessary.

 

[DrMom]

I never noticed any gender issues in anatomy lab. You've just gotta get in there and work. Be aggressive, but nice.

btw: hi, soonerpillow

 

[azzarah]

I got yelled at all the time by one of my male anatomy lab partners. WTF????
I hated anatomy. But I ignored him and did a lot of dissections any way.