Double standard at pediatric office

Hey, what types of double standards do you know from pediatric offices between boys and girls oder between different ages?

Differences in undressing for normal check-ups? Unnecessary undressing? Differences in the presence of parents or siblings (the other gender)?

My last physical exam with my sister occurred when I was 16 and she was 12. We both were required to strip down to our underwear. Our mother remained in the room. My physical was much more thorough and my genitals were examined both standing and lying down with my mother and sister watching. When it came time for my sister to be examined, her physical was much less thorough. She wasn't required to remove her underwear and the doctor felt her genitals with her underwear still on. I felt cheated, as I was on full display, but my sister escaped with just a cursory exam.

Based on the posts that I’ve seen, my pediatrician was very respectful of his patients. I never had to strip, give blood or urine samples, and my rectal temperature was never taken. He never had my sister strip down either, as far as I know. ( Trust me, she would have protested, loudly).

Based on the posts that I’ve seen, my pediatrician was very respectful of his patients. I never had to strip, give blood or urine samples, and my rectal temperature was never taken. He never had my sister strip down either, as far as I know. ( Trust me, she would have protested, loudly).

How old are you? My sister and I were kids in the 60's and 70's and we and all the other kids got examined wearing only our underpants. It was just the way it was. Different times.

I wasn't aware if any double standards at the time. At least at our doctor.

Doctors have their own rules for conducting examinations. In my childhood, all children under 4 years old had to be stripped naked for examination, and children under 11-12 years old to their panties.The girls seemed to be treated more delicately, the boys were not on ceremony. Several times, under 14 years of age, examination only in the presence of parents or a person who has reached the age of 18 instead of them. Although it seems like if you ask, then even 12-year-olds could be examined without parents, but I don’t know for sure

From the ages where I had shared examination / checkup with my sister there wasn't any double standard both pretty much sitting and waiting for the dr in underpants and examined in the same sort of process. Underwear coming down at the end.

Historically, there was a greater focus on modesty for girls rather than boys. When boys were swimming nude at the Y and school gyms, girls back in the day were provided with one piece swimsuits, usually made of wool (ouch)! Prior to public swimming pools, the “swimming hole” was pretty much a boys thing only. From what I know and have heard from others, girls also had a greater respect for their modesty at the doctor. I’ve yet to hear about a girl having to strip totally down upon entering the exam room while waiting for the doc. Boys on the other hand, especially before the 1980s…

@ethan256625

can you give us some more details about your exams? Did you watch each others exams? At what ages were you examined together?

@ethan256625

can you give us some more details about your exams? Did you watch each others exams? At what ages were you examined together?

I would say by the time 12 or 13 it was seperate, probably a year later than it should have been.

Yes, physically in the room together and could view each others. Pre dates kids having mobile phones so unless had a book to read nothing to do but observe.

We went to one clinic a number of times when my siblings and were kids and teens where girls were always allowed more modesty than boys. Either they left more on in general or were given gowns or robes whereas boys were always at least partially undressed. This was in the late 1970s-mid 1980s. And this clinic specifically made boys remove underpants - not pull them down, take them off entirely - from just before puberty, through puberty. The first time I can recall being made aware of this, I was there with my older brother who was 11. We were getting physicals and were undressing to underpants and the physicians assistant said “because of Danny's age now, we need him to take off his underwear as well.”

I used to wonder all the time, what happened to the boys behind that exam door? Same as me or different? Reading some other threads by guys, it was at least as “intimate” for some of you as for me. Love reading about what the doctor did you boys and your private parts!

@GraceT The forced foreskin retractions endured by the non circumcised boys probably count as traumatic for many of them. At best, they were embarrassing. At worst, physically painful.

At least, having one's testicles felt is just embarrassing and a bit uncomfortable, but not painful.

My brother, sister, and I all went to the same pediatric clinic. My sister had a different (female) doctor and always went on a different day, while my brother and I almost always went together.

One time the topic came up and my sister alleged that she didn't have to remove any clothes except her shoes for her annual physicals. Her doctor only lifted her shirt up. She found it weird, and a bit amusing, that our brother and I had to undress to our underwear every time. At every exam, our underwear would eventually be pulled down for genital checks, right in front of each other, while our sister's doctor never even made her take off her shorts.

At the time I felt that was really unfair, but now I think boys luck out by having such embarrassing exams in childhood. In adulthood, men don't really need to have their testicles examined unless they feel there is a problem. Women have much more invasive and embarrassing exams throughout the rest of their lives.

Once I heard a talk between my mother and my younger sister about medical examinations. She must have been 9 or 10 years old, maybe 11. My sister was obviously very embarrassed at the very idea of being seen and examined with only her panties at the doctor's. And she was very surprised and even horrified when my mother said that sometimes, it is even necessary to remove the panties. That's how I realized that my sister always kept her clothes or at least her panties at the doctor's at that age, whereas I often had to remove everything but my underwear, and several times my underwear was pulled down for example for a rectal temperature check, a genital or a rectal exam.

I have 2 brothers and a sister. We went to a family doctor, never a pediatrician. Temps were taken orally and shots went in the butt.

After reading posts from this thread I feel like my med fet would be much more intense if I my parents would have taken us to a pediatrician!