Sexism

I have been reading this incredibly long thread for the past few days on one of my favorite sites, MetaFilter (side link) about the prevalence of sexism in today's society. The blog it links to features real examples of sexism in women's lives. This led to a whole discussion in MF about whether the stories are real and also people sharing their own stories about how frustrating it is when treated differently for having a second X chromosome.

One topic discussed was being talked down to by doctors.

In college, I worked at Summit, one of the on-campus dining halls. After about a year or so of working there, I developed a pain on the bones in my hands. I went to see a doctor at Kaiser about it because my family has always liked them. Not really wanting to base a decision without knowing anything about the doctor, I was ok with the nurses assigning whomever was free to see me. Anyway, the doctor (male), did his exam, looking over my hand this way and that, asking me to move it in different ways. He then made his diagnosis which was a pretty long word. I couldn't catch any part of that word, so I asked him to repeat it. He again, said it at the same speed.Then looked at me. I again, had no idea what he said. He went on to tell me how to treat it and if it gets worse, that he'll have to give me an injection of corticosteroids to help with the pain.

To this day, I have no idea what I have/had (it only flares up occasionally when I've been repeatedly picking up/carrying heavy objects). And I regret not standing up for my needs by asking him to write it on a piece of paper or something. I know I'm not the fastest in comprehending auditory information, but I shouldn't have to feel bad about it.

I am not sharing this as an example of sexism because I don't know if it's just his way of interacting with female patients or if he does it to everyone. And most of the time, I don't really care to see the problem because it makes me depressed when I do. I'd rather just deal with these things on each individual basis and hopefully, I'll have enough self-confidence to know and help myself when something is glaringly not ok with me. Plus, I think a lot of times women use these attitudes from men to their advantage in getting what they want. I've certainly done it on numerous occasions.