avi@pegasus.UUCP (02/02/84)
I agree thouroughly with Rob Mitchell's comments. Everyone should go to a Physician (or Dentist or Plumber ....) that suits their general needs. Choosing on the basis of sex, religion, name .... is usually silly. I am generally supportive of many of the things in the "feminist" movement that relate to HUMAN rights, but get turned off by militancy of this sort. Currently, only about a quarter of Medical Students are female (at least in the school I went to) and the percentage is even lower for established practicing Physicians. If the 51-52 percent of the population (YES! women are not a minority) that is female would all go to women Physicians, then we would have many overworked women out there. Their suicide rate is high enough, already. I can understand if a woman prefers a Gynecologist that is female, or a man prefers a male Urologist. I may even understand why you would choose a woman as your neurosurgeon or pediatrician. However, in most specialties, sex should not matter at all. I found that I had respect for many of my classmates who were female/male and lacked respect for others who were male/female. There were increased pressures experienced by many of the women, and some handled it well while others did not. Luckily, things are changing (for the better) as the "teachers" are getting used to having them around. They stopped showing as many "girlie" (pardon the expression) slides in my anatomy class after one of the Professors started showing "Male Models" as part of her lecture. To anyone who does not know, "Avi" is a male name. I try to refrain from writing to net.women, and refuse to write to net.women.only -- although I disagree with the separatist premise of having any *.only groups on the net. Newsgroups (in this anarchy) are designed to be about things -- not restricted to people who lock others out. Anyone who can't deal with (well intentioned) comments from "outsiders" should create a mailing list or sponsor periodic conventions. -- -=> Avi E. Gross @ AT&T Information Systems Laboratories (201) 576-6241 suggested paths: [ihnp4, allegra, cbosg, hogpc, ...]!pegasus!avi