Interesting tidbit on female vs. male OBs

[Artisan]

I started a thread a while ago about male vs. female caregivers, and there were quite a few people who said that their experiences with female OBs had been much worse than with male OBs.

I was just flipping through Henci Goer's "Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth" tonight and game across this: A 1996 survery of several thousand OBs showed that ten percent of male OBs would recommend an elective C-section for their loved ones. And thirty percent of female OBs either chose an elective C for themselves or recommended it to family members.

Youch. What are you thoughts on this?

[Spark]

Ewww!

[Storm Bride]

Perhaps women tend to go into the obstetrics field because they believe all our cultural crap about birth being the worst possible experience there is? Maybe men are more likely to go into the field because they want to be involved in birth, and women are more likely to into it because they don't want to be...hence they're more likely to recommend the alternative? Does that make any sense?

[Artisan]

I think some of it has to do with control. Generally surgeons are control freaks (and they should be -- you don't want a lackadaisical surgeon). But that also reiterates to me why OBs should be specialists and not the standard childbirth practitioners.

[Mariposa]

from my experience at the hospital i work, the women OBs seem more cut happy than some of the guys. one OB that was recently pregnant was planning a csection for her first baby, for vaginal preservation. ugh. it's no wonder they have no qualms going c-section with another mom. one of the male docs i really don't care for actually has the lowest c-sections when he is the on-call doc.

[grace's voice]

Originally Posted by Mama Nurse

from my experience at the hospital i work, the women OBs seem more cut happy than some of the guys. one OB that was recently pregnant was planning a csection for her first baby, for vaginal preservation. ugh. it's no wonder they have no qualms going c-section with another mom. one of the male docs i really don't care for actually has the lowest c-sections when he is the on-call doc.

Oh my goodness! I'd far rather have a slightly streached vagina with a possible stich or two than full-on abdominal surgery! I seriously didn't know until reading this thread that ppl had "elective" c/s. I knew many we're unnessicary, but I thought that was due to misinformed docs and patients. How tragic.

[honeybee]

I wonder if it has anything to do with trying to overcompensate.... you know, being a woman in a traditionally "man's" profession means you are continually trying to prove yourself. It sometimes seems like women have to be more aggresive/hard-nosed, etc. in order to get half the credit that men get.

Just a thought...

Personally, I loved my female fp, who was very NCB friendly, But, then fps in general are usually less interventionist than OBs. I can't really see going to a man for birth, though. I'm much more comfortable with a woman.

[AngelBee]

:Puke

[Bleu]

Originally Posted by honeybee

I wonder if it has anything to do with trying to overcompensate.... you know, being a woman in a traditionally "man's" profession means you are continually trying to prove yourself. It sometimes seems like women have to be more aggresive/hard-nosed, etc. in order to get half the credit that men get.

I think you are right on the money, Honeybee.

And I also agree with you about still enormously preferring women for ob/gyn care.

[applejuice]

Women are more the pelvic pirate than men. They need to belong to the old boy network in order to become a ob/gyn, so I think they overcompensate for being female by exerting more control in the birth process and in all aspects of the female reproductive life cycle.

[thepeach80]

That's really sad. I've only been to 1 female OB and I didn't care for her. My current OB is a man and he's great. I will NEVER understand the desire to have a c/s over a vb. I've had both and it's night and day between the recovery and the risks!

[eilonwy]

Maybe men are more likely to go into the field because they want to be involved in birth, and women are more likely to into it because they don't want to be...hence they're more likely to recommend the alternative? Does that make any sense?

I think that this makes sense-- women who want to be close to birthing women choose to be doulas and midwives, while women who want birth to be something which can be controlled and regulated would become OBs. Meanwhile, as male midwives are quite rare (I doubt that midwifery schools are out recruiting men!) a man who wanted to be close to birthing women and to experience some of that magic for himself might become an OB just to be around pregnant women.

The control freak theory definately has some merit imo, too; A man is, in my exeperience, much more likely to say, "It's your body, I'm never going to give birth, so when our opinions differ and we're both informed, you're probably going to be right" whereas a woman (especially one who's had a baby before) will feel as though she knows better than the patient what is going on, and that her opinion has more relevance than the patient's ever could (which was what happened with my first female doc : ).

[NYCVeg]

I think part of it also is that most OBs I know are worst-case-scenarioists. They've seen the absolute worst of birth (and they engage in practices that make birth more difficult than it is). When your view of birth is so far from "normal"--and sometimes so devastating--maybe a c-section seems (irrationally) safer? My parents best friend is a retired male OB and he told me that if he had a choice, every birth would be a c-section because "they're safer for babies" (though he admits not for mothers). That comment (along with "I always like to do an episiotomy b/c I like to be able to control the cut") sent me running for a midwife!

[Artisan]

One other interesting point in the book was that the study of obstetrics is the study of the pathology of the female reproductive organs. I think Amanda is right in that doctors practice with that view -- everything is a potential hazard, and a normal birth is a retrospective diagnosis.