It is in the specifically feminine areas of gynecology and obstetrics that misogyny manifests itself most often, with stupid phrases, a lack of respect of which the practitioner is not even aware or brutal behavior. . Ysé, a 28-year-old member of Dare to Feminism !, remembers an ultrasound session: "In the examination room, the radiologist tells me that my ovaries are interfering with and pushing an endoscope into my vagina without precaution or delicacy. This is indicative of the attitude of some members of the medical profession to female organs, which must be constantly accessible and controllable. "

For doctor Martin Winckler *, a general practitioner who has been practicing for twenty years in a planning center, in France gynecological examinations are often practiced systematically and without gentleness, even when they are useless. In Canada, where he lives today, and in the United States, under the pressure of women's groups, the patients do not let themselves go and have imposed the lateral position, as a rifle, for the gynecological examinations. "It's less convenient for the doctor, but much less painful for them. "

Another example: Elise, a 39-year-old lawyer who became pregnant as a result of a contraceptive accident, must undergo an ultrasound to determine the progress of pregnancy, in order to choose a method of voluntary termination of pregnancy. "Throughout the examination, the doctor makes me understand that at my age, as I have the financial means and I have not fulfilled my sacred function as a mother, I should not have an abortion. He is obnoxious, keeps calling me "mom" ... I've been good, but I do not dare think about what would have happened with a poorer woman. I dragged this guy in front of the Council of the Order. "

It is in childbirth stories that culminate abuse of power and sexism. Véronique says: "Where I gave birth, I learned that 75% of episiotomies were practiced - while this rate falls to 5% in institutions where women are listened to. While a nurse's aide had lain down on my stomach - a dangerous practice, prohibited by the Public Health Code - the midwife signaled to my husband that she was going to cut me off - the same forbidden code of to practice an episiotomy without the permission of the patient ... The scar, which hurt me for two years, has screwed up my sex life. When I complained to my gynecologist, she answered: "It's normal: after a childbirth, it's never like before." "In gynecology as elsewhere, for things to improve, it is necessary that mentalities change and that patients refuse to let themselves go.

(*) Author of the "Chœur des femmes" (Folio ed.) And "Choosing her contraception" (Fleurus edition). www.martinwinckler.com.