Doctors Shame Women More Than Men About Bodies And Behavior

Physicians are more likely to shame women than men, making them feel guilty and less likely to make any positive changes in response, Quartz reported.

A wide range of individuals were surveyed by researchers about experiences with their doctors in a pair of studies published in the journal Basic and Applied Social Psychology. They were asked whether they would ever been made to feel guilt or shame and how they dealt with those feelings.

Both studies indicated that women were significantly more likely to experience these types of incidents than men.

According to Quartz, "In the first cohort, which was made up of university students, 26% of women reported being 'shamed' by a physician, while only 15% of the men surveyed said the same. The most common topics of this shaming were sex, dental hygiene, and weight."

A much broader age and demographic range showed similar results in the second study. "While only 38% of men reported feeling guilt or shame because of something their physician said, 53% of women could recall such behavior," Quartz reported.

Positive changes are more likely to be made by men after being shamed, but researchers haven't been able to understand the cause. If criticism is more focused on the behavior than the physicality of the person, then people are more likely to bring about changes.

Women react more negatively to criticism because they take these incidents personally, study authors said. Unlike men, they are more likely to take the criticism as them being "bad" rather than having a "bad habit," Quartz reported.

If someone comes out of a doctor's appointment thinking "I am a fat person," they are much less likely to make diet changes than someone who emerges thinking "I eat too much."

Women being treated differently by their physicians than men could be the major reason as to why they report more shaming incidents, researchers said. Women are more likely to read situations differently and pick up on a physician's subtle intent to shame than men, Quartz reported.

"If you perceive your doctor is intentionally trying to make you feel shame or guilt," lead author Christine Harris said in a press release, "then the reaction is exclusively negative. We didn't see any positive reactions at all...Tough love and shaming don't always work. In fact, they can be counter-productive."

Criticism of behavior and not patients should be more focused on by doctors to improve patient outcomes.

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