The complaints are wide-ranging with some female Twitter pundits saying they have felt their health practitioners have mocked their female form, criticised their sexual behaviours on moral grounds and their physical treatment has bordered on sadism.
One commonly reported complaint by users was that their doctors were severely lacking in sensitivity with one commentator, @avocatimini writing: “The doctor who tells you the week you turn 30 that “Now you must have babies”.
Another user, @coeurdefauve, said her practitioner had scornfully advised her: “Well, you better lose a bit of that (in pointing at my stomach),” while user @Embarkecepeze tweeted that she had experienced a “brutal smear test carried out by a sadistic and vengeful gyno who scrapes your cervix savagely”.
And it wasn’t just the women complaining. French author and university lecturer, @MartinWinckler, protested that many doctors were quick to dismiss women’s complaints and put their health grumbles down to hypochondria.
“One of the biggest forms of violence against women by certain doctors, is to make them believe they are going off the rails,” wrote Winckler.
But not every woman was ready to write-off her doctor. User @NoCatWomanNoCry defended her gynaecologist on social media when she wrote: “My gyno.is a pearl and I am not looking forward to her retiring, especially after reading about who might be her replacement!”
Despite some of the discomfort women might feel when going to visit their gynaecologist, health authorities warn that pap smears and regular check-ups can save lives.
According to Cancer Australia about seven women in every 100,000 Australian women are newly diagnosed with cervical cancer each year and it accounts for approximately 1.7 per cent of all cancers in Australian women. However like most cancers, catching it early is often the key to a good prognosis.
While the Twitter commentary didn’t suggest whether it was male or female gynos who were the perpetrators of the unsavoury styles of practice, one female health site tweeted that women see practitioners recommended to them by other women.
