Sexual Development Conversations and Examination

I would love to hear peoples experience during their exams growing up through puberty? And how the doctor addressed it or examined it?

Was there talk about your development with your doctor before they examined you? Did they make comments about it during the exam? What were their questions? Anything specific? How did you feel? Did they compared from year and year and mention it? Did they compared you to anyone else?

The reason I bring it up, I remember once during my exam (I was 12) he lifted my underwear and said “nothing growing down here yet but maybe next year” and then the following year mentioned how much I developed and grow pubes and ran his fingers through them and palpating that area. I was so embarrassed. He did the same thing about my armpit hair. And then one year when I was a little older and talking about how low my testicles were hanging so much lower than the year before which he was happy with my development.

Or my school doctor comparing me growth development with other guys in my school and telling me I don’t have as much development as other boys (in terms of body hair or my genitals) but it’s okay, it happens.

When I was examined the docs would comment on how I was developing.

At 13 when I went to the docs ill and stripped down to my boxers after being weighed and had my height measured, he talked about me in the third person as he took notes "boy is increasing in height and weight, getting more muscular and starting to develop hair".

At 14 in my exam at school, during the genital exam the doc brushed their hand through my pubes before examining my genitals and rolling down my foreskin. They commented on how my penis was growing and having hair there, and after getting me to lift my arms, they said about me having hair on my arms, legs and armpits but not yet on my chest, tummy or face. They also asked if I'd had any wet dreams yet.

My brother and I were always naked for annual checkups at the pediatrician, sans our underwear until the doctor had his look “down there” or when we weren’t old enough to hold an oral thermometer and had to take it rectally. This was 1970s into the early 80s. That summer when I was turning 13, we were having our annual and the doctor was much more thorough with my genital inspection which confused me. I don’t recall any of the pediatricians from age 13 to 16 ever saying anything about my development though I guess it was written down their clipboards.

I know my pediatrician spoke with my mother, who was in the exam room each year with me. But i honestly have no memory of what was said. I think i was so complexed by my anxiety over those intimate examinations that my mind was just white noise. I would love to read a transcript of everything my doctor said about me from age 12 onwards.

As I've posted elsewhere, I unfortunately experienced puberty at a very early age. I was referred to the GP after being discovered in the school shower; age 7; with a teenage sized erection. At the first appointment, the doc initially discussed with mum (as if I wasn't there) what the "issue" was. I was then made to strip completely naked and a very detailed exam - including lost of measurements - ensued. All through the exam, the doc talked to mum as if I was just an object. When he got to the end of the abdomen exam, I was very erect and embarrassed as the doc started that part of the exam. The only time he spoke directly to me was to say "it's ok, being like that is normal, but it's happening early for you". I was confused by this. At the end of the exam he just said "you are growing up quickly and early".

At the subsequent 2-monthly exams, I had to strip as soon as I entered the room and was again talked abut & not to - as if I was not actually in the room, or was just an object. I was never given any more information apart from "it's normal development but happening very early". I was even more confused about 18 months later, when as he tried to retract my foreskin (which unusually was tight), as it eventually slipped back, I suddenly ejaculated (didn't know it by that word or what it even was). Again when I got upset, thinking something was wrong, he just said "it's perfectly normal & you'll enjoy it later!" My thoughts - "What is he talking about - how can this be enjoyed!!!!" 😕 All of the exams were always extremely embarrassing and seemed very long and at times uncomfortable.

Obviously as I got older and had minimal sex education at school, it all started to make sense. Don't know whether I would have understood it all at the time, but an sure I could have been given "simplified" information appropriate to my age. As a result of not having any explanation of what was happening, I certainly felt like a freak at times.

When I was a teen I had gynecomastia, male breast enlargement, this made me very shy about taking my shirt off. It also ruined my confidence with girls. Plus until I was 16 my mom was in the exam room with my brother and I so discussing sex was not something I did until I was examined alone at age 16. That is when you and your little brother are stripped down to your briefs with you mom watching the exam is not a time to ask about sex.

However when I was 16 I was examined alone by my doctor. I was completely disrobed and when the doctor came in ,for the first time, he talked to me and not my mother and asked 'what is on you mind'. I blurted out 'is my penis small' for some reason being naked made it easier to ask the question. I told him that when my gynecomstia was there that I lacked confidence but now that my man breasts had disappeared I was interested in being with a girl. He told me that I was perfectly normal and asked if I masturbated and I replied yes. He said if you could express semen then you are normal. He then said most of the things men say about sex was a lie and even advised that I look for a longer term relationship than one night stands. He was really open but also traditional at the same time.

I was a little behind during my adolescent growth. At my physicals my pediatrician reassured me everybody grows differently and in due time.

I was 14. Within a few months I started sprouting body hair and growing but (what I thought) in an odd way. Suddenly my limbs started growing out of sync with my torso and I sometimes woke up at night with muscle spasms in my arms and legs.

At my next checkup I voiced my concerns to my pediatrician. I was becoming very frustrated with myself because I became somewhat lanky and uncoordinated. Since I was 11 I worked very hard to develop my athletic potential. Diving was becoming a challenge. I wanted to quit and bury my head in the sand. My doctor reassured these growing pains would pass in due time and to not give up on myself

@Kid89 How old were you when your school doctor compared you to other guys?

@Kid89 How old were you when your school doctor compared you to other guys?

14/ 15 I believe. The doc compared my pubes and how I didn’t shave or trim and said many other peoples in my class don’t either so don’t worry or thinks it’s something I needed to start to do if I didn’t want to. And my development is no different than any other guy he had seen that day so I shouldn’t be comparing myself to them. Perfectly healthly looking young man he said once.

I saw him again when I was 17.

My pediatrician never made references to my development or puberty other than to confirm that everything looked healthy. The only thing that changed as I developed is that when I was 12 and starting going into the exam room on my own, I stood for the genital exam and would lower my pants and underwear myself. He also wore gloves for these exams and added a hernia exam. Up to age 11, the doctor would perform the abdominal exam and move directly into the genital exam by lowering my pants and underwear himself and performing the genital exam without gloves.