I’ve been going to OB-GYNs in different countries and states for exactly 22 years, and today is the first time I was asked about “the lifetime number of sexual partners.” This is nothing but lurid curiosity since the information is of no practical use to anybody.
9 responses to “Lurid OB-GYNs”
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That’s terrible. It also reveals a conservative desire to judge women for having a large number of sexual partners. That way the OBGYN has full license to “tsk tsk” and comment that she is now in a “high risk category.” I hope you left that answer blank and refused to engage. Ridiculous.
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“That way the OBGYN has full license to “tsk tsk” and comment that she is now in a “high risk category.” I hope you left that answer blank and refused to engage.”
- No, to be honest, I invented a number. As I said, I have no idea what “counts” as sex in any particular region, and it didn’t seem like a good time to inquire.
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I offer my recent experience with an American doctor at a private care facility (or what seems to be called “urgent care” here) …
“So do you think that this could be a sexually transmitted disease?”
“HAHAHAHA NO. This is a kidney stone that’s created a moderate bladder and prostate infection for which I need antibiotics. Are you always this nosey?”
I got my pills … and a $193 bill for a seven minute office visit, which was the amount due after my wonderfully crap American insurance took care of some of that amount.
And I thought the £75 for a visit to a typical railway station private care doctor in London was a bit much …
I’ll have you know the judgemental bollocks works the other way as well — this doctor was female.
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So you laughed at them when they attempted to provide a diagnosis? And then offered your own diagnosis instead? They probably billed you for everything they could.
Also, your final comment seems strange considering Clarissa didn’t mention the gender of her doctor.
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So you laughed at them when they attempted to provide a diagnosis? And then offered your own diagnosis instead? They probably billed you for everything they could.
Also, your final comment seems strange considering Clarissa didn’t mention the gender of her doctor.
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Honestly both men and women will judge you.
There is no politic answer in this situation or in most situations when someone asks you this.
Ostensibly the number of sexual partners correlate with your risk of contracting cervical cancer. Pretty much any woman who has slept with men has some version of the HPV virus (most don’t cause cancer or any symptoms whatsoever) except for gold star lesbians and nuns who joined the convent early.
They just lifted the lifetime ban on gay and bisexual men donating blood.
They justify all kinds of intrusive questions, procedures and tests based on the idea that straight women are disease vectors for men and babies. But do men get asked this at their GP? Seriously, it’s not like they order STD panels for men or a prostate exam for men whenever they want boner pills or they get married. “Let’s make sure you don’t have invisible clap for your future children.”
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“Honestly both men and women will judge you.”
- It’s not judgment, it’s envy. 🙂
It would be interesting if the questionnaire tried to define what it means by “a sexual partner.” What kind of contact “counts”?
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I had an OB-GYN ask me that once. I also made up a number (because I don’t really know myself). It was my same OB who implied I wanted to terminate a pregnancy (“I’m guessing you don’t want to continue the pregnancy, you don’t look like you want to keep it”). Which they guessed wrong, but I felt it was extremely presumptuous. Maybe it was because of my “number of sexual partners.” Who knows.
I obviously never went back.
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A conservative literary critic and college professor
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