In the hospital, TAs silently endure sexual harassment
On July 23, the well-known public welfare person, the Thunder, known as the "Hepatitis B Fighter", broke the scandal of sexual assault. At the same time, the cases of suspected sexual assault at the same time are more than one. Environmental protection guard Feng Yongfeng was exposed to sexual harassment; many female members of the Nanjing University Education Association were harassed by local tourists; yesterday, senior media person Zhang Wen was also suspected of sexual assault...
So far, discussions on sexual assault and sexual harassment and controversy have focused on detonation, affecting multiple fields and circles.
Some friends may speculate on this, it is these circles are chaotic. Actually, as the " survivor effect ", there are only a few people who can speak out for justice. More are the huge icebergs under the sea, which are the silent majority.
What is not known to outsiders is that the white giant tower of the hospital is actually the hardest hit by sexual harassment.
Today, Dingxiangwang takes this opportunity to talk to you about " sexual harassment in the hospital. "
The medical field is the hardest hit area in the workplace
In the bright operating room, young resident Christina Jenkins is using the surgical clip to remove the patient's skin and prepare for the next skin graft. She is an anesthesiologist and the attending doctor of Christina Jenkins. A senior trauma and burn surgeon.
When she was concentrating on her operation, the attending physician suddenly approached her slowly until she almost put her face on her face, and a squeaking voice came out under the mask. "You will do well."
Christina Jenkins felt numb and uncomfortable in an instant, but fortunately she managed to complete the work at hand by holding on to her anger and panic.
However, when she realized that it was a sexual harassment, the things that bothered her were still behind.
The next day, she received a call from the attending doctor, saying that there was a very urgent matter, let her go to his office immediately.
When she rushed to the office panting, the married doctor just talked to her and then went straight to the subject. "If you go to bed with me, I will make your next day easier." ......"
We are not aware of the things that followed, but it is undeniable that Christina Jenkins was constantly sexually harassed by male bosses in his later career as a doctor.
It was the sexual harassment experience of a young age that prompted Christina Jenkins to come forward many years later and participate in the medical industry's “me too” (me too was spread on social media after the September 2017 Harvey Weinstein sexual harassment incident A subject label used to blame sexual assault and sexual harassment.) , appealing to women who are sexually harassed in the medical field to boldly defend their rights.
Christina Jenkins, 38, is a colorectal surgeon in Palm Springs, Calif., and a faculty member at the Loma Linda University Medical Center.
Christina Jenkins
Dania Maxwell / NBC News
Indeed, sexual harassment is an important and widespread public health issue, especially in the areas of care and health care. Lilac Garden Weibo has received a lot of feedback in this regard recently:
A report published in JAMA magazine in 2016 showed that nearly one-third of women in medical research institutions have experienced sexual harassment in the workplace.
This year, a Medscape survey of US medical staff found that 7% of doctors in the past three years have experienced sexual harassment in the workplace, with 10% female doctors and 4% male doctors. Nurses and assistant physicians experienced a higher rate of sexual harassment, at 11%.
The most serious is the nurse group
In the hospital, the most serious sexual harassment is the number of nurses.
As early as 1997-2002, some authoritative figures in the United States believed that nursing was one of the most frequent occupations of sexual harassment.
The harasser may be anyone who is exposed to the nurse's work, such as the patient, the patient's family, the doctor, the hospital administrator, and other colleagues.
At present, the research in this area in China has not yet been deepened. The following is the investigation and study of sexual harassment by foreign nurses for reference:
Cogin et al. conducted a questionnaire survey of 538 nurses in Australia and interviewed 23 nurses. 60% of female nurses and 34% of male nurses experienced sexual harassment in the workplace. Intern nurses were 23% more likely to suffer sexual harassment than nurse practitioners. The questionnaire showed that the main The harasser is the patient, and the interview results indicate that the doctor is the most important harasser.
Of the 464 Japanese nurses surveyed by Hibino, 56% of the nurses were sexually harassed by patients. Yellow jokes and sexual comments were the most common forms of harassment, followed by physical touch.
A survey by Muzaffer et al. pointed out that one third of Turkish nurses were victims of sexual harassment.
Studies have pointed out that most of the sexual harassment suffered by nurse practitioners comes from external sexual harassment such as patients and family members, while internship students often encounter internal sexual harassment by doctors and administrators.
Unlike workplace sexual harassment in other fields, the loss and harm caused by sexual harassment is even more serious in the special environment of medical care. Studies have shown that sexual harassment often causes short-term or long-term psychological and social problems for harassed people, including:
Emotional distress: such as anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and drug abuse;
Occupational distress: such as absenteeism, resignation, multiple sick leave, and burnout;
Interpersonal relationship problems: such as intimate relationship, sexual life disorders.
The consequences of these problems are multifaceted. First of all, the harassment itself has brought great physical and mental harm; at the same time, sexual harassment has caused personnel turmoil and brain drain (this can be said to be the hidden cost of sexual harassment).
More seriously, sexual harassment creates a hostile work environment for the victims, making it difficult for nurses to concentrate on their care and lead to more mistakes, if these actions occur in blood draws, medications, or delivery operations. The consequences can be fatal during the device.
What caused it?
The causes of frequent sexual harassment in hospitals are similar to those in other fields, but they also have their own industry specificities. Two of them are particularly prominent, namely: a strict hierarchy and huge professional pressure.
Strict hierarchy
Unlike sexual harassment in public places, harassment in institutions or colleges and universities is more of a power-forcing color.
In medical institutions, traditional beliefs that women are subordinate roles, because women mostly provide care for patients, while men have higher administrative status, and most of the former doctors are male. That is, sexual harassment is the result of differences in power and status between men and women.
That is to say, the relationship between doctors and nurses/low-cost female doctors is similar to the relationship between Thunder and volunteers, some college professors and female students. The former has the authority of the upper level of the circle, while the latter has more In a weak position.
Similar to the sexual assault cases frequently seen in the society, the gap in rights is one of the reasons for sexual harassment in hospitals.
The hospital's strict hierarchical system has intensified this power potential and provided a hotbed for persecution.
"When doctors or executives are at the top of their rights, they will abuse the nurses at will," said Teresa Goodell, a trauma clinical care specialist in Portland, Oregon. During her 35-year care career, she has witnessed or experienced many workplace sexual harassment.
This is reflected in the harassed female doctors: many residents do not dare to speak when they are suffering from superior sexual harassment, because it is too easy to be retaliated, or to get a "dream" recommendation letter.
The silence of the victim will make the harasser more unscrupulous.
Huge occupational pressure
The pressure on medical staff is a global consensus.
For harassers, high-pressure environments are more likely to provoke their abuse (not to excuse harassers) , and sexual harassment is actually abusive.
For the harassed, the huge pressure will make them more inclined to face harassment, because the pressure of work and promotion makes them have no time and energy to face and deal with.
In China, “stress-release sexual harassment” is more likely to occur in the operating room. Some male doctors often like to have some color jokes before the operation begins. This may be normal decompression behavior in their view, but some nurses or women. The doctor said that he was very uncomfortable.
This kind of high-pressure environment is also reflected in the doctor-patient level: nervous, complicated doctors and patients, nurse-patient relationship often exacerbate the retaliatory sexual harassment of male patients to female medical staff. Especially in the process of nurses nursing at the bedside, or for heterosexual patients exposed to sexual organs.
In the Lilac Garden Forum, there were postal friends who broke the male nurse's hand and sent the urine to the post in the ward:
Picture from Lilac Garden Forum
how to respond?
In the United States, before the 1960s, nurses had little legal recourse for sexual harassment, and they often saw sexual harassment as “ evil ” that must be endured at work .
Until the 1964 Civil Rights Act established provisions to provide legal aid for sexual harassment/sex discrimination cases. The perfection of the terms clarifies the legal standards of sexual harassment and provides a means of defending the rights of the harassed.
In 1996, two nurses received $850,000 and $150,000 in compensation for sexual harassment indictment.
In addition, according to a US Buzz Feed News survey, at least 3,085 employees in general clinics and surgical hospitals filed sexual harassment allegations against the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) from 1995 to 2016.
In addition to legal constraints, many hospitals and research institutions in the United States have established sexual harassment education courses, established regulatory systems, and punishment systems, emphasizing the professional and equal status of female doctors and nurses, and weakening them (especially nurses) from a traditional perspective. The gentle, beautiful image in the middle.
Despite this, the cases of bold rights protection and real-name boycotts are still rare, and more people have not spoken for various reasons.
"The dilemma must be broken from the inside, " said Elizabeth Raskin, a medical "me too" person. "In organizing training and workplaces, the more public discussion of sexual harassment, the better it is to eliminate them."
Those who have been or are being harassed are the most powerful part of breaking this dilemma.
Don't deny that you don't rationalize sexual harassment, let alone shame or blame yourself. Purify our work environment and start by looking at the harasser. (Editor: joy)