Sexual harassment, sexual assault and rape have been referred to as surgery’s open secret.

There is an untold story of women being fondled inside their scrubs, of male surgeons wiping their brow on their breasts and men rubbing erections against female staff. Some have been offered career opportunities for sex.

The analysis - by the University of Exeter, the University of Surrey and the Working Party on Sexual Misconduct in Surgery - has been shared exclusively with BBC News.

Nearly two-thirds of women surgeons that responded to the researchers said they had been the target of sexual harassment and a third had been sexually assaulted by colleagues in the past five years.

Women say they fear reporting incidents will damage their careers and they lack confidence the NHS will take action.

  • Alien Nathan Edward@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    22
    ·
    1 year ago

    You ever notice how in almost any industry, hobby, geographical area or any other demographic you care to pick, a story about sexual assault will get traction and then people in that demographic will be like “Yeah, sexual assault is kind of an open secret here”? Surgery. Fucking surgery. Someone is trying to give someone a new lease on life, a gift most precious that very few can bestow, and someone else is like “I’ll bet I can get a fistful of tiddy”, and an entire room full of people are like “This is fine and normal. Let’s not do anything about it.”

    • PersnickityPenguin@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      To be honest I’m not surprised. Have you ever met a surgeon before? Quite a few assholes who think they’re King of the world.