Principle of the Matter

My midwife at Kaiser has referred me to an OB because my blood pressure is high. It's a precaution, and it may only be occasional (I may still have some appointments with the midwife), but I'm happy that I'll actually be seeing a doctor. She asked if I had a regular gynecologist, which was hilarious, because, hello! I am a Kaiser patient, of course I don't! They try to keep patients away from (expensive) doctors! So she said she'd assign me to an OB and asked if I had a gender preference.

From what I've read and heard, there is a real shortage of males OBGYNs. Lots of women prefer to see women OBGYNs and men have sort of been pushed out of the specialty. That bothers me, because it smacks of gender discrimination. I can understand it-- wanting someone with smaller hands, which tends to make people think women, or feeling more comfortable with having someone of your same gender-- but I still don't like it. So when she asked, I wanted to say "I want a man!" Then I started thinking, though, "isn't it gender discrimination to pick a man BECAUSE he's a man?" Ha.

So in the end, I said I didn't care. I ended up with a woman OB, who I will see for the first time on July 6.