There is a lot of righteousness on this thread which I think is overblown. Standards of acceptable behavior and speech evolve over time. Yes we used to have wine and beer at MEC 20 years ago. Never saw anybody drunk. Only rarely saw anybody take a single drink. Yes we used to have med students do pelvic exams on anesthetized patients. Nobody, including the RNs gave it a second thought. The argument was that it promoted experience and advanced the day of competence. Some educators in medicine modeled their teaching style on that of a Marine Drill sergeant depicted in some movies. Some of them honestly believed that treating learners this way was an effective teaching technique. Times change. The border between professionalism and individual discretion and unacceptable behavior is a moving target.
I say bring back the wine and beer at MEC. Of course I have never been on the MEC except on the receiving end which of course needed wine.
Anyway, are med students on their respective rotations not allowed to do Gyn exams anymore or something? Or are we talking of grabbing random medical students from the hallway and making them feel something weird when they aren't on that rotation. I remember in my life as an attending being invited to participate in a pelvic exam (I think) and thinking no big deal and participating. Guess that would be viewed as inappropriate in some places.
I have been in Army basic training. I was not traumatized by drill sergeants. And now that I think about it, maybe because in the Military there were so many minorities from all ranks on the non-commissioned side that I didn't feel threatened at all. I never felt like they were gonna kick me out and honestly they just wanted to make us stronger. I felt like we were all treated the same in the military and the drill sergeants actually would let loose sometimes and joke with us and be normal.
Whereas I felt threatened in residency as one of the two black residents I constantly felt like they were gonna get rid of me and I was targeted. In medicine I felt there was always this undertone of "I could end your career" and straight up malignancy of "You have to behave this way" and everything else was "unprofessional" which lead to walking on eggshells. All I know is I have nothing but fond memories of the "abuse" I received in the army where they even gave me a nickname and I was always in "trouble." It's different types of abuse that's for sure. There is a "class" system in medicine led by a bunch of Old White Men (Good Ol' Boys) that leads to rampant abuse and I for one am glad it's changing, because there is no need for it.
Lastly, as a woman in the OR, I can say that I have dealt with a lot of sexual talk, innuendo's, nasty jokes sometimes directed at me, involving me, but mostly involving the surgeons and their lives. Also witnessed A LOT of verbal abuse mostly directed at the OR staff but occasionally directed at me. Happened a lot out West where surgeons rule the town. Made me uncomfortable, was unwelcome, but what the hell do you do besides try to stop it and not partake in it? I got into a huge argument with a Gen Surgery prick one time as I attempted to stand up for a nurse who was getting incessantly berated. Huge argument where the dingus then turned his anger on me, berating me, when I told him something like "come on dude, that is unnecessary". And of course I eventually ended up backing down because I didn't want to lose my job and the prick wasn't gonna stop, but it shouldn't be like that.
Let's face it, there are a lot of narcissists in Medicine. Especially in surgery. Administration sometimes kisses their assess. It isn't right, needs to stop and administration needs to put a stop to it.
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