Doctor Advises her Female Students to give in to Sexual Harassment

Gabrielle McMullin is a surgeon based in Sydney, Australia. She has created waves, big-time by telling her female students to give in to sexual harrassment, rather than reporting it. Because reporting it would do untold damage to their careers.

I am delighted to hear this. It is such a clever strategy – not the proposed action, but the statement. It is shocking. I heard about it today when a male pundit on Irish radio was complaining bitterly about how damaging and disrespectful the statement was to all the work done for feminism and equality. He simply proved McMullin’s point.

How could anyone think that submitting to sexual harassment is the right thing to do?

But the reality is that many professions are controlled by men’s groups (the fact is there are still very few women at the top tables) who will not welcome criticism of one of their own, and who may find it easy to assume the complainant is a trouble maker – one to be avoided at all cost.

So if a student of McMullin’s comes to her and reports sexual harassment in the workplace, what should she advise the student: go and tell the authorities or “go with it”? It takes years of study and sacrifice to become a doctor – the student and the mentor have arrived at the rock and the hard place. McMullin clearly feels that “giving in” is the lesser of two evils.

Put another way, if you were leaving your local sports centre and found your neighbourhood thug in the process of stealing your car – would you walk up and say – “please don’t take my car” or would you take a step back and wait for it to happen? – It’s not black and white.

So this is where we are with feminism, and equality in the professional classes. McMullin could do one of three things:

1. Advise the student to complain
2. Advise the student to give-in
3. Or tell the world that the best outcome for the student is to complain.

McMullin is a smart lady. If she had chosen option 1 or 2, would we be talking about her here on the far side of the world?

My working life has been based in hospitals, I have heard comments about young eager female students from one surgeon. I cannot say that this sexism is everywhere in the medical profession, but I believe McMullin speaks from a position of some knowledge.

McMullin has just launched her book Pathways to Gender Equality – The Role of Merit and Quotas, which she co-authored. I think the gentleman pundit on Irish radio has a little to learn about irony, and perhaps he should think about the reasoning behind the statement rather than shooting the messenger.

For more on this see:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-03-07/sexual-harassment-rife-in-medical-profession-surgeon-says/6287994

The Power of the Game for Pretend Doctors

I work as a Clinical Engineer, a part of that role is in providing technical support for electrically powered medical equipment and devices. One area in which I work is in an Eye Clinic.

When we work in specific technology areas, as Clinical Engineers we are often very involved with instruments that are not perhaps electronic and that do not fit strictly into the realm of clinical engineering. We often find ourselves in discussions with clinicians regarding problem-solving for particular tricky procedures. A deeper understanding of the clinical procedures may be useful.

In among the endless discussion of the merits of various video games, my 11-year old son described to me how to insert a pacemaker. It was really quite impressive. So I followed up, and I have just removed a cartoon cataract – using instruments I have often discussed but was not fully familiar with their function. My son advises me that I can also do laser surgery.

The game has just invited me to do heart surgery.

These games are free, they are simplistic but they offer a very valuable modern tool to Clinical Engineers, perhaps young people thinking about a career in healthcare, and anyone who might be having one of these procedures. I just googled: Eye Surgery Game to find games, and one leads to another.

These games obviously provide absolutely no medical training but they are great for helping you understand procedures which you or a friend or relative may need to undergo.

But they are also fun and represent another little light-hearted benefit the internet has brought us.