I'm a male 4th year trying to decide between medicine and OB/GYN, specifically gyn onc. A lot of what I see as the downsides of the field wouldn't apply to me because 1. I think the rise in malpractice is more of an obstetrics issue. 2. More men seem to go into gyn onc, and 3. I don't think gender plays much of a role in a pts decision to pick a gyn oncologist as opposed to a generalist. Still, I've been doing some thinking about the pros and cons because I'd have to get through a 4 year residency regardless, and if I decide at the end I don't like onc I'll have to pick something else in the field (although I'd probably do REI)...anyway, here's the list.
cons
1) The chaperone thing does bug me. Even if everyone should technically use one, women are much more likely to just do the exam alone and I feel as though its not as big of a deal if they do. Its silly. I'm a doctor. Just because I'm a man doesn't mean I have any sexual interest in your nasty, diseased, vagaina.
2) Lots of women around, no men, could get old after a while. Although I suppose I'd always have a nice stream of male med students to keep me sane, and the handful of other men in the field.
3) I'd say the hours, but I don't really mind working hard. Although, an IM residency with a night float system is comparatively benign.
4) A female friend of mine interested in the field was telling me the other day about how much fun she had with her teenage patients doing their very first pelvic exams, teaching them about tampons....I have pretty much zero interest in having anything to do with that.
5) There is a lot of medicine in OB/GYN, but its not as cerebral as IM. With the exception of the MFM folks most residents seemed to have a 'dumbed-down' understanding of a lot of medicine.
pros
1) Probably the best mix of medicine and surgery around. I didn't go to 4 years of med school to pick just one! Even a nice component of EM in there...stat C-section is a good time and a brisk postpartum hemorrhage really gets the blood pumping (no pun). Plus the field is very diverse, general, obstetrics, MFM, REI, onc, urogyn. If I really hate doing something I can always know in the back of my mind I get to move on to something different soon.
2) The gyn oncologists, in particular, are very complete doctors. The idea of doing surgical and medical oncology is very appealing. Whatsmore they seemed to really take ownership of their pts (only surgical service I've been on that doesn't fight transfers to their floor) and are able to handle all but the most complex medical comorbidities and complications (read: not some ortho idiot who apparently can't spell i-n-s-u-l-i-n)
3) Everyone I've spoken to (residency adviser, department chair) tells me males are a commodity on the interview trail. As a middle-class white boy, it would be nice to feel wanted for a change
lastly
4) Even though I don't want to do this, with regards to general practice and males, here's the way I see it. Right now there are LOADS more women going into the field then men. As the old guard retires, generalist men in the field will become very rare. Even if a majority of women prefer a female GYN, there are still women who prefer a male, and even more who honestly don't decide based on gender. With male GYNs being so rare, they should have no trouble drumming up business from the two later groups.
my $0.02