Australia, please don’t be worrying that young female surgeons-in-training are lining up to give their bosses blow jobs.
Last week, Dr Gabrielle McMullin told the ABC she advises sexually propositioned trainees that “the safest thing to do in terms of your career is to comply”.
In all the predictable outrage, a glaring fact has been overlooked. The good doctor is a woman with brains big enough to succeed in medicine’s most competitive sphere. She wasn’t really telling trainees to sleep with their boss. Rather, she was cleverly and rather deliberately, exposing a weeping, septic, sexist sore pulsating within her profession.
Background story: Female surgeon: giving in to sexual advances is better for your career.
Here’s another reality that’s less icky. The trainees she was talking about are also incredibly intelligent. Most know their esteemed colleague wasn’t pimping them, she was fighting for them. They are fist-pumping the air right now and thanking her for revealing their ugly reality.
If you somehow missed the mayhem, Dr McMullin told the ABC the story of a trainee harassed by her neurosurgeon boss. ‘Caroline’ complained and won the case but her career was damaged. In saying women were better off giving in to harassment than complaining, McMullin set out to shock.
Let me help her. Caroline’s upheld complaint involved the surgeon pulling out his erect penis, touching her breast and kissing her.
That story is public. Here are some that are not.
I spoke to a trainee whose supervisor invited her to ‘get under the desk and suck my cock’, another had a boss say ‘why don’t we go and have sex’, a third, while upset, was comforted with the words ‘you need a good case of cock’. I even spoke to one woman who was berated for being an ‘entitled bitch’ while she was operating. Yes, she was being abused while her hands were inside someone’s unconscious, vulnerable body. Her crime? Coming back from maternity leave. That’s not sexual harassment, that’s just discrimination, but there’s definitely a pattern here.
The latest: More female doctors speak of sex harassment in Australian hospitals.
Cleary there’s no point doing a Tony Abbott and attacking the messenger. Dr McMullin was pointing out that we don’t hear these stories because complaining often brings punishment upon the trainees. She was telling society that the system probably wont deliver justice.
Listen: Dr Gabrielle McMullin talks about sexual harassment in the medical profession. (Post continues after audio):
Since the story went public, many male surgeons are furious. The College of Surgeons has been emailing female trainees telling them there are complaint procedures in place and that they are supported. But, as one trainee bluntly states,’ policy is not enough, it doesn’t protect those who complain from payback’.
As a trainee told Mamamia, the ‘system involves assessments and you can be failed at any time. You have to be careful’.
So careful in fact, that the women we spoke to don’t want to use their names. Surgical Medicine is still a very male-dominated profession. Only eight per cent of surgeons are women and the men are still usually in the senior positions. It’s impossible to keep complaints anonymous.
One trainee who spoke to Mamamia came from another organisation that’s male-dominated and has appalling cases of harassment. She says it’s actually easier to expose harassment in the military, as the complaint procedures are clearer, fairer and more rigorous. All recruits are sat down and told their obligations. Senior surgeons are not.
It’s also hard for trainees to complain because they know they are taking on giants. As a doctor posing a question on Q & A on Monday night stated, it seems some surgeons feel part of a ‘secret elite’, entitled and above the law.
I have met a few male surgeons who almost seem to think they are gods. In a way they are – they restore shattered bodies, they save lives, they extend existence. Perhaps this power can go to their heads. Most are brilliant yet it seems some are lacking emotional intelligence.
I had a relative in hospital last year and was horrified by one senior surgeon’s condescending, brisk and dismissive bedside manner.
Want more? The seven best moments from the night women took over QandA.
I’m not saying he was typical. I’ve met kind, considerate and fabulous surgeons who are true heroes. They do work that almost brings me to my knees in gratitude and wonder.
The Women in Surgery committee that is part of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons says complaint processes are robust and clear. The AMA has urged trainees to come forward. A Senior Doctor I spoke to today says she feels there has been massive change in the last 10 years. She has encouraged and assisted trainees to make complaints and seen two senior male doctors forced to retire.
There is real, ongoing work being done to support female trainees in surgery. By speaking out, Dr McMullin was trying to guarantee it goes on. By exposing the wound she’s hoping to get it treated.
I just hope it gets surgery and not a cover-up bandage.
Top Comments
As a male surgical trainee, these developments have not come as a surprise to me. I must first state that I honestly believe that it is the minority of surgeons behaving in this fashion. Most of my mentors have been remarkable people from both genders and I am forever grateful to them. But in 2015, for such behaviour to be existent in such a high performance field is unacceptable.
I have witnessed bullying toward both men and women in my training, some of which I have been the target of. In my own personal instance, I saw this as part of the "pathway to becoming a surgeon" and for some part, it does battle harden you for a career that is at times demanding and highly stressful. Bullying in surgery varies from bitching about other surgeons and trainees behind closed doors to outright sexual abuse as seen in these cases.
The college of surgeons has sent me thousands of emails this week about how "abhorrent" and "disgraceful" the comments of Dr McMullen were. They also say that anyone experiencing bullying should step forward. I then received an email from our Trainee representative regarding how "ours in a noble profession" and quoting surveys conducted buy the college suggesting that there was minimal incidences of bullying (the confidentiality of these surveys is very questionable). There is a complete disconnection between the people in the clouds running the show and what is actually happening on the ground.
At no point has anyone realised that these comment were completely sarcastic and reflecting an underlying frustration with the system. There is no transparency or independence when it comes to investigation of bullying with the college of surgeons. It is an in-house process that occurs behind closed doors and very rarely yields positive outcomes for the victims.
Most trainees are terrified of the potential career outcomes of reporting bullying and being labelled a "trouble maker". Most advice that I have seen (and admittedly given to those struggling from bullying) is based on tolerating this behaviour as "it will only be for 6 months then you can move on". Why is this acceptable? Why is it that no one is willing to accept that there is a problem (no matter how small it is) and that it needs to be resolved.
As I see it the college must:
1. Launch an investigation that is completely independent to assess ALL forms of bullying in surgical training
2. Establish an indépendant protocol not involving surgeons to assess claims of bullying
3. Protect the anonymity of complainants
Yes this is disgusting. But it will be a loooong time before it changes and it's not just medicine. I have a friend who works in a large Corporate and was seriously sexually harassed, she had tonnes of evidence but the perp was eventually let off, with management and an independent investigator stating there were plausible excuses for all of his terrible advances, which included asking for naked photos of her. He was in a position of power over her and immediately began failing her on everything. The all female management never supported her and to do this day her career has never progressed, she has been looked over for every promotion and the reason? Management in EVERY sphere see women who complain as 'troublemakers'. This doctor is just trying to give good practical advice so that women don't ruin their careers because of one prick. My advice is that if a senior sexually propositions you, act flattered but evasive. Keep relations super friendly and look for another job asap. It isn't endemic, there are lots if great male bosses, so you may encounter it only once or twice in your career, but it needs to be handled with the very most careful diplomacy because things haven't changed. Telling women to complain when it will ruin their careers is just the worst advice ever.
The problem is that it is not necessarily that easy to get surgical jobs else where. I you do not get a medicare number you need to work in a hospital and if you work in a very specialised field than the jobs are even fewer.