My hope is for a culture change where sexism is no longer dismissed as \u201chaving a laugh\u201d<\/p>\n
The widespread degrading behaviour towards women has been reported as \u201cshocking\u201d across several media outlets. While the specifics of certain reports have indeed been deplorable, the number of women highlighting their experiences via #metoo comes as no surprise. Sadly, in several discussions I have had with female peers, the consensus has been that as women working in the NHS, many of us have stories of this nature to share.<\/span><\/p>\n This has caused me to reflect upon the \u00a0examples of problematic and unacceptable behaviour I have encountered working within NHS hospitals.<\/span><\/p>\n For example, the time I was invited into a consultant\u2019s office for a coffee, where he reclined his chair, put his feet up on his desk, and told me I would do well in medicine because I was \u201cpretty.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Or the time I was told a \u201cfunny\u201d story by a consultant which involved a female applicant for a consultant position being asked if she wanted the job badly enough to \u201cbend over that table.\u201d This was communicated to me as a hilarious anecdote, where no criticism was made of the male consultant making the comments.<\/span><\/p>\n On another occasion, I was asked by a consultant at a social occasion if I thought highly of a particular school because someone who had gone there “fucked” me, “probably up the arse\u201d. This was in the company of a male junior doctor, who later commented that this consultant was \u201ca legend\u201d in reference to this kind of interaction. This reaction was particularly saddening as it suggests that some of the new generation of male doctors will continue to witness comments such as this, and view it to be aspirational behaviour.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n My aim in sharing these examples is to continue the conversation, raising awareness of what women regularly endure. My hope is for a culture change where sexism is no longer dismissed as \u201chaving a laugh,\u201d and that we all feel better equipped to call someone out when\u00a0their\u00a0comments offend.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Each of these interactions left me feeling furious about the blatant disrespect being shown to\u00a0myself and women\u00a0in general. The strongest emotion I felt, however, was guilt at being unable to speak up and tell the aggressor how I really felt. I am ashamed to admit I laughed along.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n And this is where I feel a real opportunity for change lies. Not merely #metoo\u00a0in relation to having experienced sexual harassment first hand, but #metoo, I\u2019ve witnessed it and done nothing, and I\u2019m not prepared to do nothing anymore.<\/span><\/p>\n It would be easy to vilify the men at fault in the above examples, but I believe this would be overly simplistic. I believe that these are not \u201cbad\u201d men, and I am certain that if any of them were to identify themselves in reading this, they would be saddened to hear of the effect of their words. This wilful ignorance has to stop. A culture change is required, comments which degrade and intimidate women are not \u201cbanter,\u201d they are unacceptable. I hope the ongoing media coverage will drive this message home, and where this fails, I hope the solidarity of the #metoo movement will empower those witnessing offensive behaviour to inform the perpetrator that this will no longer be tolerated.<\/span><\/p>\n Diane<\/span>\u00a0O’Carroll<\/span>\u00a0<\/strong>is an ST3 in Emergency Medicine, graduating from the University\u00a0of Glasgow in \u00a02013. She previously studied Law at the University of Aberdeen, graduating in 2007.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My hope is for a culture change where sexism is no longer dismissed as \u201chaving a laugh\u201d […]<\/p>\n
\nSince the story broke, headlines and dinner conversations have been dominated by the repellent conduct of Harvey Weinstein and other men. This most public scandal has triggered a global wildfire of anger and condemnation, and also led to the #metoo\u00a0movement, where women and men share their experiences of sexual harassment and abuse publicly on social media, highlighting how this behaviour pervades every walk of life.\u00a0The movement was recently named Time magazine\u2019s Person of the Year<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n