Double standard in pediatric offices - Input?

My wife believes the double standrard is still in effect. Our two boys always fully undress for their annual physicals, but our niece who goes to the same set of doctors is able to keep her panties on.

I guess because girls don't typically need any exams that underwear covers up until they're late teens. So they don't have to expose anything. Don't know for sure though.

The GF has never undressed for any of her physicals.. Not even to bra/panties... The only time she's come out of clothes is at her gyno.

I recently had a derm exam where the nurse told me flat out that the girls get a paper drape to wear until the doctor enters the room but the guys get nothing in that office. I did not mind sitting there naked, but I thought it odd they would knowingly present this to the patient as if it were saying the good kids get the lollipop but the bad kids get nothing.

Both of my kids (M & F) had to remove all their cloths during their exam. My son was 11 I think before he was allowed to keep his boxers on. My daughter is 12 now and is given a paper robe to where now that she is starting to enter puberty.

Having only a sister myself and also only having had daughters I am not really best positioned to discuss the double standard but I know that both my to were never required to be nude for the exam no matter when we went for check ups etc.

Underwear did come off briefly at the end but certainly never from the start.

Its the same now panties remain until the end but now has a gown also.

I think thats the most common way of doing this but not sure if its the same for male patients where we go but one would assume its the same

At all my visits to the pediatrician for my yearly checkup I was undressed completely (socks and underwear off as well) from the very beginning of the exam. I remember the scales were located outside in the main hallway and every time I would be led by the nurse down the hall to the scales for the weight and height portion of the exam. I remember trying to cover my genitals and shuffle along trying to keep up with the nurse. They did a fairly decent job of only having one patient at a time at the scales, but on a few occasions we would pass another patient in the hall. I always thought it very unfair and extremely embarrassing to be made to walk down the hall wearing nothing but a smile while the female patients were allowed to keep their socks and undergarments on.

The pediatrician always examined me in only in my briefs until 14/15. Every year my physical became embrassing: stripping in front of my mom, sister and nurse. Then hoping that I don't become erect during the gential and hernia exam.

Now as an adult, the doctor office i now go to has a an female docs just for older kids. While waiting for my doctor' appointment I notice these kids (13-16yrs) also waiting very comfortable unlike my visits at their age. To make along story short the brother and sister were examined separately. The father waited outside the room when more privacy was needed for his son and daughter. The other patient was a son and mother for a sports physical. I had a appointment to check a hand trouble and the exam door was open a crack the teenage guy was across the hall. I saw the mom leave and then get called back into the room it must of been during the gential and hernia exam. All three of us were check out at the same time and the whole time this poor guy is trying to hid his erection.

I wish as a kid my pediatrician would have given me a little privacy I would not dislike like doctors as an adult. I just do not see the need and reason for examination to be done in front of their siblings. Unless for medical reasons I don' t believe a mother / sister needs to see her son's /brother's penis, testicles and hernia exam. Same for the girls during their physicals. To make it clear, a little privacy when the girls/guys bodies are changing late pre-teen or teenage years not when at 4 or 5 years old. Who knows with this doctor's practice a little privacy in the teenage years a patient for life?

Don't remember being naked except maybe when i was really young when i was older it was socks and underwear

When I was brought to the pediatricians office, the nurse would bring me into the exam room, have me undress only wearing my brief undies (back them we all wore briefs). She would weigh me take my height and then I would be instructed to get onto the exam table, lay down on my stomach and she would pull my undies down, with my butt exposed, she would spread my butt cheeks and insert the thermometer, wait for a few moments and then read my temperature..she would pull my undies back up and then have me sit up...take my blood pressure and then wait for the doctor to enter the room.

This was standard in all my visits from the time I was a child up until I was 18 years old.

From talking to various nurses and health workers it was not too informing that many gentleman pediatricians actually look forward to the physical examination of nice looking teen boys and prefer them over girls. I sensed this all along and always wondered why the moms seemed to block this bit of reality out and just mentally place the pediatrician on the professional pedestal so to speak. Boys from middle class suburban families raised with values always seem preferred in the exam room. My own personal experiences as a teen affirm this. its just a seldom discussed bit of reality.

...from middle class suburban families raised with values always seem preferred in the exam room. My own personal experiences as a teen affirm this. its just a seldom discussed bit of reality.

I can understand that there was a difference in treatment ... but whatever does 'suburban families raised with values' mean? There are so many kinds of values that I cannot think of what this refers to in terms of medical examinations ... monetary, literary, religious, progressive, etc. ... maybe simple politeness?

Everyone has their own set of values that they ascribe to in one way or another. These may however be quite different from that of your neighbors or co-workers. And when it comes to suburban families from my younger days, 'keeping up with the Joneses' comes to mind as a characteristic of suburbanites, a oneup-manship of spending, consumption, washing cars and landscaping ... and obviously this doesn't factor over into medical practices ...

Maybe you could clarify what you mean, cause as a former young suburbanite I'm curious ...

The values that Doctor seemed to enjoy seemed to be that of my neighbors and co-workers as you indicated. It is true values vary but his focus was on the type of family background and socio-economics of my friends and neighbors at that time. He should have located his office in a more multi-cultural area perhaps to be politically correct but that was not the case. I also imagine he enjoyed the Dads quality health insurance benefits from the large corporations that assured him a good financial status. Basically its an each to his own approach when being in a medical practice and this Doctor seemed to focus on those you defined as consumerism oriented and wanting to keep up with the Jones' It appeared to work for him but would not for you.

Not just at the pediatrician. There is a gender based double standard everywhere in medicine. It seems to be the standard to protect the modesty of the female and discount the modesty of the male. Those places that try to equalize things tend to err towards too much modesty, to the point of interference with good medical care.

the Dads quality health insurance benefits from the large corporations that assured him a good financial status...... and this Doctor seemed to focus on those you defined as consumerism oriented and wanting to keep up with the Jones' It appeared to work for him but would not for you.

So in short you mean that such doctors focused on getting as many affluent and insured patients as possible, patients who would be certain to pay their bills promptly?

That's an approach to medicine as if it were like any other business. I don't think there is anything especially revealing in that ... so how does such an approach figure in differentiating between genders? Why would the first lead to the second?

I could keep my boxers on until the end when I had to take them off completely for the genital exam. As far as I am aware, it was pretty much the same for my twin sister growing up. She got to keep her bra and panties on until the breast/genital exams. So for my pediatrician, there was no double standard between exposure for my exams and my sister's.

Every medical office seems to have different practices for the removal of clothing for an exam whether it is in a pediatric or adult medical office, sometimes even within the same practice these things differ. I had no sisters, so I don't know how far the girls were undressed in a pediatric office, but I remember that I always had to undress to my undershorts when I went.

I agree - I always remember that for any visit to pediatrician, i had to undress to my underwear

I never had a gown at the pediatrician, but I was also allowed to keep my underwear on for the whole exam, only pulling them down for the hernia and testicle exam.

Every medical office seems to have different practices for the removal of clothing for an exam whether it is in a pediatric or adult medical office, sometimes even within the same practice these things differ. I had no sisters, so I don't know how far the girls were undressed in a pediatric office, but I remember that I always had to undress to my undershorts when I went.

Sometimes things differ even with the same doctor as you're growing up. The first physical I had with our family doctor was when I was about 5 or 6 and he used a "strip-as-you-go" approach at that one until I was down to briefs. Subsequent ones (at about 8, 12 and 15) were done with me wearing shorts right off the bat. The one at fifteen was my last physical with him and I've wondered sometimes what an exam from him at say, 20 or 25 would've been like if we hadn't moved.

Both my school physicals and pediatrician's office were like this. At school, girls were generally told to "wear loose clothing" whereas boys had to undress. And, one of the pediatricians we went to had an exam room that was actually two adjoining rooms, one with the table in it which was used for the actual exam, and an anteroom where they did preliminary things and discussion with parents, etc. So, when my sister was taken into the other room, we were not able to see anything but could easily hear her being told to remove very little and then to put a gown on, whereas my brothers and I were ALWAYS told to undress at least to underpants and sometimes those too. This was 1970-80s.

I have posted at length in similar topics. In the UK during the 1950s / 60s - it would seem that concern for the modesty of boys was minimal. At junior school ( 7 - 11years), boys would be in large groups in the school hall and told to strip down to their underwear - en masse - in front of everyone else ( our teachers were mostly female). We sat on PE benches, reading in silence, until it was our turn to see the doctor.

The initial part of the exam - we wore vest / pants. Your vest soon came off for chest / abdomen exam. Then you had to remove your underpants for a thorough examination of the anus and genitalia. After the exam, we sat in our undies reading until everyone had been examined, then we all dressed and returned to the classroom. Because of the system and the way the screens in the hall were arranged, you saw other boys naked as well as being seen naked by others (including the nurses) yourself.

I also ( because of a long - term, but improving, condition ) saw a Paediatric specialist twice a year for six years. For every exam with him, I had to strip completely naked right from the outset. He organised my physiotherapy sessions (c. 30 per year for 6 years ). The physiotherapists were all female). For those sessions, I was sometimes allowed to wear just flimsy PT shorts, but quite often I was required to be totally naked. In some ways, I sort of got used to the nudity, but I became more self - conscious and embarrassed as I got older.

Typically, all my visits from the time I was a little kid until maybe 15 years old. The nurse would take my mom, sister (older) and me to the exam room. The nurse would tell me something like, "now, strip everything off except for your underwear".

After all the vitals were taken, I'd sit on the exam table and wait for the doctor.

Until I was 10, I'd be on lying on my back for the abdominal exam, he would just stick his hands in my briefs an do a quick feel of the penis and testicles. Starting when I was 11 and 12, he pulled down briefs to my knees while I was still my back and examined my penis and testicles. Next year, he started having me stand and he would pull down my underwear for the genital &hernia exams. My physicals became increasingly embarrassing: ultimately being naked getting your privates and hernia examined in front of your mother and sister.

After I was allowed to get dressed, I was instructed to wait outside during my sister's exam.

As a kid, I was always told to strip down to my underpants before the doctor came in. During the doctor would pull them off and I would remain naked for the rest of the exam. On specialist I went to as s kid always required me to strip off everything from the start. As an adult, if I didn't have on my underwear I had s gown or a drape.

I was excited to to see DarthJarek's post with excerpts from books on the subject of what boys and girls should be told to wear for physicals. I had found those books many years ago in a library and I've been looking for them ever since. I, ordered them both using the info he posted and also found a couple of others including a pamphlet about school physicals.

My own school, as I posed earlier, had very clear double standards in the rules for what boys and girls wore for school physicals.

Yes! There definitely were double standard. I had to always undress to my underwear after entering the room. Soon after the doc entered I had to get nude.

The girls were allowed to keep the clothes on and only remove the part that is needed.

I think the doctor's and mom's thought that boys don't need any modesty.

All my life at the pediatrician: never nude. Always in underwear until time for the genital exams.

Even now: a derm visit last year required looking around my groin, and I was told to take everything off and put on a gown.

When I was a child and a teenager in Los Angeles, a nurse in a pediatric office would either tell me to remove all of my clothes and sit on the exam table to wait for the doctor, or she would tell me to remove all of my clothes except for my white briefs. I would feel embarrassed when she would leave the exam room door open and allow others to look inside the room or enter the room to get medical supplies while I was sitting waiting for the doctor or when I was being examined by the doctor. If the doctor was a woman and there was no nurse available to be in the room with her, she would examine me with the door open. If I was wearing white briefs and was to be given a shot in the bottom, my white briefs would be pulled down and I would not only feel embarrassed but I would feel anxious if I saw that a large needle was to be used. As a teenager, if I felt aroused by an attractive nurse with large breasts, I would worry that I would get an erection when she would use a rectal thermometer to take my temperature or give me a shot in my bare bottom. I would attempt to distract myself by thinking about sports or fishing with buddies. I once ran naked into the bathroom and locked the door when a nurse walked toward me with a syringe with a large needle. I did not unlock the door for 30 minutes, and my mom had to hold me when the nurse gave me the shot which was painful. Girls whom I knew told me that the door was usually closed when they were examined at the pediatric office. Feel free to message me if you would like to discuss medical experiences.

In the office of the pediatrician where my mom took me, I suppose they usually had only one kid going out to the hallway at a time to get weight and height taken on the scale in the hallway. Only a few times from when I was really little until I was sixteen was there ever another kid in the hallway to be weighed at the same time as I was, and only once was it a girl. The only boys I ever saw were in just white underpants like me -- one a little kid and one a teenager, and the only girl I ever saw was little -- maybe five -- and had a shirt on as well. So that's a sample size of only four including me, so probably not statistically significant, but at least anecdotally I concur with the double standard for getting weight and height in the hallway.

I'd not be surprised if the same were true in the exam rooms. Up through age 16 (late 80's to early 90's) my whole pediatric exam was done with me in no gown, but rather just my white briefs, which my pediatrician always pulled down in full view of my mom. Since it was the same every year, I don't recall ever being embarrassed about it, even though in the later years it was the only time each year when my mom got to see my penis and scrotum. Maybe the walk down the hall in my undies to get weighed was the only time I was anxious about being seen in those last few years, because people seeing me would be strangers. But for my doctor and my mom, it was different. Since I was such a late bloomer, I actually was proud of how much I had developed and didn't mind the doctor and my mom seeing my pubic hair and the growth of my testicles and penis when I was fifteen and sixteen, at the exams before and just after I learned how to masturbate. They had been so worried about my development or lack thereof at my exams at twelve and thirteen that it was a relief when they both smiled at seeing my genital development catch up at fifteen and sixteen. I'm not sure if that's why I didn't mind being naked in front of them both, or if it was just because I had been conditioned to the nudity over the years as others have suggested in this thread.

Could it be that the changes girls go through being more internal and gradual, and the changes boys go through being more external and obvious is the reason for the double standard? Is it that not much is gained from an observational standpoint from keeping a girl exposed, but a boy's nudity is much more practically useful in determining his level of development? If so, then the double standard may be medically justified, right?

Discussed this in high school in my circle of friends. Us guys were always naked during dr exams. Two girls said they got to keep the robes on and were only exposed when necessary. But one girl friend (the prettiest one) said her doctor kept her entirely unclothed for her whole exam, said she didn’t like it. All our girl friends’s doctors were men.