When I was an intern, there were no female interns. There were very few female doctors in the hospital outside pediatrics and obstetrics/gynecology. That all changed during my residency and the advent of more women physicians had a civilizing effect on the training programs.
When we were told to "suck it up," and work a 70 hour weekend on call, or to run up and down flights of stairs to the blood bank to fetch bloods for transfusions for your bleeding patient, or to run down to the emergency room get back in time for rounds to make your presentation, you did it. You knew you were an intern and by definition of that job, you were going to be abused. Don't be a wuss, don't be a weenie. Just do it.
Women didn't buy all that and things started to change.
The Chief of Neurology humiliated and terrified students with his grilling on rounds, and we all said, "education by humiliation" was his technique. My brother always said the reason he and I did so well in our neurology rotation was because our father was cut from the same cloth and we were accustomed to that sort of abuse and just pushed ahead. while others, whose fathers were more indulgent, just fell apart.
Shaming was widespread. You don't know your patient's hematocrit? And you call yourself a doctor? What if the patient undergoes cardiac arrest because you failed to check that? Should we call your mother and tell her to come pick you up because you are flunking out of internship?
A "hostile work environment" was not a phrase in those days.
It's true, none of this sort of hazing involved authorities caressing our breasts or genitalia or insisting on sex, or locking the door to the office from a button under the desk. And we were beyond adolescence.
But abuse of power by authorities was and likely still is part of some work environments. And when women get into positions of power, they often behave just like men, attempting to put subordinates in their place, asserting their dominance while underlings have to simply take it. The Devil Wears Prada. Nurse Wratched.
When I was 13 or 14 if a boy got too aggressive with his hands in places they were not welcomed, the girl could be counted on to issue a quick rebuke, possibly accompanied by a stinging slap across the face. Nobody objected that this was a provocation to further violence by the boy. Mostly, boys treated to this simply slinked away, lesson learned.
So I'm a bit mystified why Al Franken who was reported to have caressed the bottoms of women or attempted to kiss them, was not quickly treated to a right cross across the face.
I'm not educated in this discussion, which is why I ask now. But the question occurs to me.
Why did women not respond more forcefully at the time of these transgressions? Why do they come out only years later?
In the case of the District Attorney in an Alabama town in the car with a 14 year old, I can understand the silence and the passivity. But what about the journalist or the woman at the County Fair?
Not to say they should have behaved differently.
Just asking.
When we were told to "suck it up," and work a 70 hour weekend on call, or to run up and down flights of stairs to the blood bank to fetch bloods for transfusions for your bleeding patient, or to run down to the emergency room get back in time for rounds to make your presentation, you did it. You knew you were an intern and by definition of that job, you were going to be abused. Don't be a wuss, don't be a weenie. Just do it.
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| Discouraging protest |
Women didn't buy all that and things started to change.
The Chief of Neurology humiliated and terrified students with his grilling on rounds, and we all said, "education by humiliation" was his technique. My brother always said the reason he and I did so well in our neurology rotation was because our father was cut from the same cloth and we were accustomed to that sort of abuse and just pushed ahead. while others, whose fathers were more indulgent, just fell apart.
Shaming was widespread. You don't know your patient's hematocrit? And you call yourself a doctor? What if the patient undergoes cardiac arrest because you failed to check that? Should we call your mother and tell her to come pick you up because you are flunking out of internship?
 |
| Hostile work environment |
A "hostile work environment" was not a phrase in those days.
It's true, none of this sort of hazing involved authorities caressing our breasts or genitalia or insisting on sex, or locking the door to the office from a button under the desk. And we were beyond adolescence.
But abuse of power by authorities was and likely still is part of some work environments. And when women get into positions of power, they often behave just like men, attempting to put subordinates in their place, asserting their dominance while underlings have to simply take it. The Devil Wears Prada. Nurse Wratched.
When I was 13 or 14 if a boy got too aggressive with his hands in places they were not welcomed, the girl could be counted on to issue a quick rebuke, possibly accompanied by a stinging slap across the face. Nobody objected that this was a provocation to further violence by the boy. Mostly, boys treated to this simply slinked away, lesson learned.
So I'm a bit mystified why Al Franken who was reported to have caressed the bottoms of women or attempted to kiss them, was not quickly treated to a right cross across the face.
I'm not educated in this discussion, which is why I ask now. But the question occurs to me.
Why did women not respond more forcefully at the time of these transgressions? Why do they come out only years later?
In the case of the District Attorney in an Alabama town in the car with a 14 year old, I can understand the silence and the passivity. But what about the journalist or the woman at the County Fair?
Not to say they should have behaved differently.
Just asking.
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