In a tale that would make even the stony-stomached cringe and clutch their instantly nauseated bowels, John Hopkins Hospital has agreed to pay $190 million to victims of mega pervert Dr. Nikita A. Levy—a gynecologist who clandestinely recorded more than 12,500 women during his examinations using tiny cameras embedded in pens and key fobs he wore.
While the story first broke in February 2013, Levy was almost immediately terminated; he killed himself using a plastic bag and helium 10 days later. His potentially secret surveillance—which included about 1,200 videos and photographs from the last 25 years—was surfaced by a female colleague who found it odd he always had a pen dangling from his neck.
John Hopkins' settlement is currently considered to be the largest of its kind, beating out an even more perverted (as long as we're documenting this sickening hierarchy of depravity) class-action suit in 2012. That case involved a Delaware pediatrician who was convicted of recording assaults on hundreds of children; lawyers negotiated a settlement of $123 million.
In the wake of learning all about Levy's shocking betrayal of thousands of women's confidence . . . I really got to thinking about what to me seems like a rather strange occurrence overall. By definition, Levy's desire to see women's vaginas up close and decidedly personal isn't perverted in the slightest. In fact, it's a pretty popular porn genre as far as I can tell. (A quick Google search offered up 923,000 results for "gyno porn.") The problem of course is that he violated the privacy of his patients for his own personal masturbation collection. I imagine he got off on a whole bevy of elements including the secrecy, the taboo nature of his recordings, that he actually knew the women who's vaginas he was recording, and the whole "sexualization of the medical" thing. And I'm probably barely brushing the surface of this psycho-sexual shit.
But really though. This whole story has resurfaced a question I ask myself all the time....
Why do Men Want to Become Gynecologists Anyway?
1. If you're a heterosexual man, chances are you find the vagina pretty arousing. Is it still arousing when you see 15 vaginas a day . . . some of which are angry and infected? Do gynecologists still go home after spending their day—literally—steeped in vaginas, and want to rock their lover's/wife's world? Or is it the opposite? After hours of seeing vaginas they've de-sexualized, maybe it's even more exciting to finally get home to the vagina that they can rock.
2. It's pretty interesting for anyone to choose the female reproductive system as their life work's focus. You're not only dealing with genitals day in and day out, but also an existential battle against mortality's lip-smacking jaws. OB/GYN's decisions on the proverbial birthing table are often the difference between life and death. It's hard to say the say the same thing about opthomologists or podiatrists. Their work is vital, don't get me wrong, but it's just not charged with the same level of intensity. I mean I hate to get all cerebral and shit on a Monday, but every person who's brought into this world—or isn't—has a profound rippling affect. An amputated limb or eye is harrowing, but survivable.
I of course turned to the beautiful bowels of Reddit to see what some male gynecologists had to say for themselves. Like the woman who posed the question, I have suffered through my fair share of male gynecologists. And I'm sorry, but it's always. so. awkward. The only people who ever head down below are me and my lovers. Having the exact same sensation without the pleasure of intimacy is extremely disorienting and odd. I also had this wow-inducing experience a couple years ago.
Post exam, I was sitting shyly across a huge wooden desk from my male doctor. I was interested in trying out the Nuva ring for the first time and was curious if it ever fell out and hit the deck, if I had to wash it with soap . . . or what exactly the protocol was for reintroducing said ring if it had been sullied in some way. "I can just . . . stick it right back in there?" I asked quietly. "Psssh," he laughed. "Everything goes in there! It's no problem at all."
Everything I thought? Wow. It made me feel like my vagina was this impervious black hole of steely resolution. Which is both great and also not. Everything does not go in there, sir.
Anyway: Here are two awesome responses from male OB/GYNs that really made my day . . . and helped counter that sinking cold feeling in my stomach when I see that white coat and three-day stubble start to snap his gloves and grab the stirrups. Shudder.
[–]terminal_ennui 2801 points 3 months ago
I never thought I'd end up doing ob/gyn, but I enjoyed my rotation in medical school. The variety of the work is entertaining. We get to do surgery and office visits, and the visits tend to be procedure heavy. L&D is a lot of fun. Also, it's nice to have "healthier" patients, as lots of pregnancy visits are young women who aren't dying. Ultimately, I just felt like fit in with that type of doctor (ob/gyns tend to be work hard/play hard type of individuals). It felt kinda weird to make the decision at first, but once I got used to it I couldn't really see myself doing much else.
[–]Wolfgang3750 1834 points 3 months ago*
I'm on my 3rd year rotation with OB/GYN now and I love it, much more than I could have predicted. Here's why.
- There is nothing like labor and delivery. Being a part of that moment for a family is a profound and humbling experience.
- The patients usually have good lives that get even better with your care. As already mentioned, it's nice to be working with patients who are generally healthy, but have an issue that is causing them real concern and you can actually do something about it.
- The surgery is very impressive. C-section as "surgery with a prize" is a great description, that only begins to convey the special nature of that operation. It's a fast moving procedure that requires definitive and deliberate action and results in a new life. It's the best operation I've seen thus far. The other surgery can be very technical and nerdy, with robots and such, which is awesome as well
- The technical aspect is engaging. Treatments for infertility combine top shelf aspects of surgery, laboratory work, endocrinology, technology, and patient interaction. It's impressive.
- The hours / lifestyle seems pretty solid.
- The ability to subspecialize is diverse.
While men have historically dominated the medical profession—like every other damn profession—and women have slowly but surely eclipsed men in this particular doctoral calling in recent years (women currently make up more than 80% of gynecologists), that still leaves nearly 4,000 men who are choosing to be OB/GYNs; currently about 21,000 gynecologists are employed in America.
Now I'm wondering about female urologists who specialize in male reproductive organs . . . and here I thought I wanted to be a writer.
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