Pediatrician unnecessary genital exam?

When i was 12 and in summer camp, I was brought to a Dr. in the town nearby. He was supposed to see why I was sick, not do a full physical...he undressed me...and touched/examined me. I am curious if others have had real doctor experiences that were pervy...like this? I wonder if he did it to get off cause my parents weren't there.

He probably wasn't being "pervy." If you had never seen this doctor before, it would not be unusual for him to do a full exam to determing your illness. Otherwise, he has no baseline to compare to.

However, I know what you are saying. At about that same age, I went to an allergist, and he proceeded to do a full exam. It was a bit of a shock, and I only figured out why after I became a Hospital Corpsman.

Hey Doc S.,

Thanks for the reply....

I'll never know for sure, but the way he undressed me....he did the unbuttoning unzipping and pulling down of pants and underwear....didn't say anything.....and otherwise it was not a 'full' exam, I suspect he was crossing that line. But you are correct, he could hide behind the "medically necessary" argument.

I write the following not to be titillating, but to share a true and disturbing experience of this sort.

In my early teens, as I had done for years, I went to my pediatrician's office for my required physical examination (not my annual physical) in order to receive health clearance to attend summer sleep-away camp. My normal M.D., a kindly gentleman, was away on vacation, and in his stead was a female pediatrician in her mid-'60's. She was tall, grim-faced, stern, and frightening to me. She examined me in a room not normally used by my physician (his private office, not one of the larger examining rooms), which seemed odd. She also closed and locked the office-door, which too was rather scary. I asked her about this, and she replied that she didn't want anyone to interrupt her concentration during her examination.

At the beginning of the exam, she directed me to remove all my clothes but my underpants, and I complied. When I told her my regular pediatrician only asked me to take my pants off near the end of my exam (I would later understand that he would quickly palpate my testes for masses and perform a quick hernia test -- he never made me take them all the way off, but just asked me to pull them down in front, which was fine), she replied that she was in charge, and she was going to conduct her exam as she saw fit in his absence. Her tone seemed rather martial, so I did as she asked. However, when I piled up my clothes near where she had told me she would examine me (near a scale and a chair in the corner of the room -- there was a small table there too, as I recall), she picked them up and moved them to the other corner of the room. I asked her why she did that, and she replied that I wouldn't be needing them until the exam was over, and that they would only be in the way. Weird.

Most of the exam proceeded pretty normally, except that her auscultation and palpation of my torso, and other aspects of the exam, combined with the temperature of the office, eventually caused me to experience an involuntary erection because I was wearing nothing but my underpants. She became much less talkative once this happened. Suddenly, she ordered me in a harsh voice to stand in a certain spot on the floor, facing the wall. I of course complied. She then ordered me to remove my underwear, which I did. (For the moment, my briefs were clean -- a big relief since I suffered from daily encopresis and enuresis.) She took my briefs and tossed them onto the pile of clothes a few feet away in the corner, which was ominous.

I heard nothing for a time (I thought she was writing notes, but I snuck a peek, and she was just staring at my backside), and then she tapped my back, down my spine, and then ordered me to bend over and touch my toes. When I did, she reached between my legs with an ungloved hand and touched me in an unprecedented manner that seemed to me then, and still seems to me today, inappropriate. She not only rolled my testes in her hand, but quickly ran her hand up and down my erect penis. At the same time, she took her other ungloved hand and ran her finger from my coccyx all the way down my buttocks-crack and across my anus to my perineum and testes. I stood up out of shock and concern, and she told me that I was a "fine, healthy boy down there" and then made me walk naked across the room, while she "checked my natural gait," or something like that, in order for me to put my clothes on.

After the exam, I was really embarrassed and flushed, but she seemed fine. I asked her about the exam of my genitals and bottom, and she replied that that was "just standard procedure" and that she had been "concerned about my development," and particularly, for some reason, about haemorrhoids (I had none, and I had never had any). I mentioned this to my Mom on the way home, and she was too embarrassed by the subject even to discuss it with me. I don't think my Mom ordered this; I think the doc took it upon herself to take advantage of me. I did ask my regular doc about this on my next visit, but he was nonplussed (probably didn't want to criticize a colleague who filled in on short-notice). So that was that.

I did not find this experience pleasant or exciting at the time -- just embarrassing, strange, and humiliating. I am glad it was never repeated.

""I did not find this experience pleasant or exciting at the time -- just embarrassing, strange, and humiliating. I am glad it was never repeated.""

Great point, I think most kids don't find it pleasant at the time...its the thinking and rethinking as we develop that messes us up 😃

When I would get sick and have to go to the pediatrician, if it had been a while since he had examined me, he would do a full exam. Although I hated to go through the genital exam, I never thought it was inappropriate.

I thought all of my genital exams during childhood and adolescence were unnecessary. My mom was always in the exam room and she found nothing unusual about it. Of course, looking back now, he didn't do anything that wasn't by the proverbial book of the 1960's.

As for diaperfriendly; I gave you both a karma and a like for your story and situation. First of all thank you for sharing and trusting us with the story.

At a minimum, it sounds to me to have been on the edge of unethical, if not completely over the top. But what I really liked was the fact that you questioned the process. You questioned it to the doctor herself, to your regular doctor and to your mother. You may not have gotten the reponses you needed or wanted, but at least you had the courage to question.

I, on the other hand, stripped when told to, coughed when instructed and bent over the edge of the table when required and never uttered a word.

Most of the exam proceeded pretty normally, except that her auscultation and palpation of my torso, and other aspects of the exam, combined with the temperature of the office, eventually caused me to experience an involuntary erection because I was wearing nothing but my underpants. She became much less talkative once this happened. .

Perhaps, instead of taking advantage of you, she was showing her disapproval of your arousal ... it could be that by having you walk around naked and such she was trying to shame you into proper behavior, namely to learn how to remain properly chaste and un-erect. She might conceivably consider an erection during a medical exam highly improper and have been trying to make you feel ashamed.

Not that this would be defensible in any way mind you, but you never know what reasons people find to justify what they do. Ultimately this would be just as improper a reason as any other for her treatment, but it does differ from wishing to take advantage of you. Had it been a male doctor, then surely the suspicion would be strong that the reasons were improper. With a female doctor you might consider other reasons.

And just to reiterate - since you felt very uncomfortable with the situation, none of these can be used as an excuse, but simply as an explanation ...

Like I have said in posts before, if I had not been alone for my school medical when I was 7/8 yo I think I wouldnt have been made to take my pants off from the outset and do all the 'exercises' (to check gait etc). But its hot to think back to now! lol

Wow! Thanks to all of you in this branch of the site for actually reading my post and for making constructive comments upon it. That happens so rarely for me in other branches of the site where I post so often. Thanks too for the likes and the karma points.

I have always had the courage to question violations of my rights, including my sacred right to bodily integrity. Unfortunately, each time as a toddler, child, preadolescent, or adolescent I spoke up to or spoke about or spoke out against those who were abusing me (during this entire time, I was subjected to prolonged, sustained, and profound physical and emotional abuse in the household, to sexual abuse by a female relative, to sexual abuse by men and women in positions of power and authority, and to relentless bullying, including limb-breakings and beatings into unconsciousness by other children, every day, for years during elementary school), I was either disbelieved or, worse, subjected to harsh reprisals. But being outspoken is in my blood, as it has been for all of my direct Brythonic ancestors for over a thousand years. The tradition lives on, though to ill-effect in my case.

What this woman did to me struck me at the time as just plain wrong. It is impossible to describe the lascivious, predatory look in her eyes as she saw me erect in my underpants and then, after she had touched me inappropriately, as she peered lewdly over the tops of her bifocals while watching me walk in obvious discomfort (I was pretty angry too) across the room, unable to hide my erection or my buttocks, back to my pile of clothes. I felt and sensed that she was a pervert. I still do. I resented what she did, but I thought if I made too big a stink (no pun intended), she would make a report in my chart that might result in some sort of punishment, unwanted medical treatment, or reprisal. So I let it go. I think about it rarely, and never as fodder for masturbatory fantasy or erotic thrill. (No judgments made about anyone else in this regard -- except her. She was one M.D. who was n.g. in my book.)

Wow! Thanks to all of you in this branch of the site for actually reading my post and for making constructive comments upon it. That happens so rarely for me in other branches of the site where I post so often. Thanks too for the likes and the karma points.

I have always had the courage to question violations of my rights, including my sacred right to bodily integrity. Unfortunately, each time as a toddler, child, preadolescent, or adolescent I spoke up to or spoke about or spoke out against those who were abusing me (during this entire time, I was subjected to prolonged, sustained, and profound physical and emotional abuse in the household, to sexual abuse by a female relative, to sexual abuse by men and women in positions of power and authority,....

More Karma for you- 😃

I can relate, and I find that although I am new to this site.....I arrived more out of curiosity and self-discovery than medfet. I feel like I and many of the folks here were profoundly effected by childhood experiences and developed, through conditioning, likes and dislikes, wanted and UNwanted from those childhood experiences.

At that time, when I was a child (and many here have written similar thoughts) is was not pleasant....it was the replaying of the events and reinforcement over many years that created the adult thinking.

Considering that 1 in 3 females and 1 in 6 males are sexually abused as children it's no wonder so many need to discuss it. There are many excellent self-help forums out there...but this site allows a more explicit angle at addressing these ideas. (Sorry if this is too heavy, maybe there should be a "Serious discussion" thread.)

Thanks All!

Considering that 1 in 3 females and 1 in 6 males are sexually abused as children ...

It's best to be careful when talking about abuse rates. A quick survey will give, for instance, very different rates when looked at in broad geographical locations or by sociological culture types ...

Just because in the past society liked to sweep this kind of behavior under the rug and pretend it did not really exist, does not mean that going the opposite way and overstating and over-representing the incidences will even out things ...

Did not intend to under/over-state the abuse statistics...this is just the number I've seen a lot. It's a side discussion. Any abuse is too much. (And actual incidence statistics can be a controversial topic)

Thanks

1 in 3 American women will be sexually abused during their lifetime. (George Mason University, Worldwide Sexual Assault Statistics, 2005)

http://1in6.org/the-1-in-6-statistic/

I suspect a fair amount of this may be due to different attitudes in medicine about patient dignity as well as appropriate, call it behavior for lack of a better word, when examining children. I didn't have a dedicated pediatritician as a girl. I went to the same doctor as my parents. No real thought was given to special needs of children. I got a horrific exam at the hands of my doctor that I highly doubt would happen today. Was the doctor a perve? Probably not, he i suspect just never gave any though to how traumatizing his actions would be for a young girl, after all he was the doctor and he was doing that for my own good. That isn't to say there WEREN'T pervey doctors just that what was considered acceptable behavior with a patient was different.

I suspect a fair amount of this may be due to different attitudes in medicine about patient dignity as well as appropriate, call it behavior for lack of a better word, when examining children.

That is probably something that is often difficult for people to take into account - changing attitudes. After all, we hardly ever feel ourselves changing and seldom ever experience the process itself. If you think back on your past and try and remember how different things were, you will probably be surprised.

One factor that I wager had a big influence on how people were treated was the historical distance we have come since the early 20th century age of the world wars. I know this may sound like something that had no influence on your daily life, but for those of us who grew up in the 50's and 60's, these conflicts and all the attending attitudes and customs that come with waging total war were still very near, things that had not happened all that long ago and were still not erased from our conscious and unconscious patterns of thinking.

Just one of these - a very noticeable loss of respect for human life and acceptance of brutality for the sake of expediency - was an attitude that often carried over into normal everyday life, be it in (thankfully) lesser forms. There was less willingness to be attentive to children's fears, it was thought better to instill discipline and a toughness of spirit from an early age on. If, as most boys at the time expected, we were going to be drafted and fight in a next world war, then you might as well become attuned to the medical indignities and inconveniences that would later be part of your life. No mollycoddling, but you'd better buckle up and learn things the hard way ... that most certainly applied to doctors and medical things in general as well ... and these doctors were themselves of an age to have experienced the world wars themselves and therefore seen more suffering, directly or indirectly than everyday citizens would. This would incline them to feeling less sympathy for youngsters afraid of simple medical procedures like getting a shot or having to undress.

Since then, things have most certainly changed. My parents were never very strict or uncaring, but even so, I am often surprised at the lenient modern attitude towards many things when it concerns authority or discipline or attending medical situations. Basically we just had to adjust to how adults saw fit ... they were not inclined to adjust things to take our fears and wishes and dislikes into account. We were the ones who had to adapt to the way things were in the world.

Thanks again to all for the thoughtful and supportive replies and input. I want to make one broader point briefly -- one that applies not only to medical exams, but also to other treatments one receives (and, in some cases, to unwanted contact or punishments to which one is involuntarily subjected) in one's tender years.

I should never seek out, and I should never brook, any inappropriate discussion (real, conjectural, fantastic, or otherwise) of minors, here or elsewhere. What makes zity special for me is the freedom persons such I as and my brothers and sisters here are accorded to discuss our own experiences -- so long as those discussions be not prurient. The therapeutic value to me (and, I hope, to others) of our sharing my experiences here is, paradoxically, both real and palpable and yet, in an ontological and identifactive sense, inestimable.

So kudos to the mods and to the posters and to everyone here in this community for allowing and for fostering such wholesome and meaningful and honest self-expression and discussion in the first place. Mature adults really deserve a forum such as this for discussing, sharing, analyzing, and cathartically releasing the lifelong pain stemming from our own childhood experiences of a highly charged and nettlesome nature, including involuntary parental or medical experiences resulting in imprinting or distress, without fear of opprobrium, misapprehension, or reprisal. Thanks to all.

"[O]f our sharing our experiences . . . ." Sorry. Eye-strain.

Amen to that diaperfriendly, and long may it continue to be so. Beginning to share my experiences here on Zity has been highly therapeutic for me also, and it is in part the courage of other posters such as your good self in sharing your own stories which has in turn given me the courage to share mine. Karma to you.

Thanks again to all for the thoughtful and supportive replies and input. I want to make one broader point briefly -- one that applies not only to medical exams, but also to other treatments one receives (and, in some cases, to unwanted contact or punishments to which one is involuntarily subjected) in one's tender years.

I should never seek out, and I should never brook, any inappropriate discussion (real, conjectural, fantastic, or otherwise) of minors, here or elsewhere. What makes zity special for me is the freedom persons such I as and my brothers and sisters here are accorded to discuss our own experiences -- so long as those discussions be not prurient. The therapeutic value to me (and, I hope, to others) of our sharing my experiences here is, paradoxically, both real and palpable and yet, in an ontological and identifactive sense, inestimable.

So kudos to the mods and to the posters and to everyone here in this community for allowing and for fostering such wholesome and meaningful and honest self-expression and discussion in the first place. Mature adults really deserve a forum such as this for discussing, sharing, analyzing, and cathartically releasing the lifelong pain stemming from our own childhood experiences of a highly charged and nettlesome nature, including involuntary parental or medical experiences resulting in imprinting or distress, without fear of opprobrium, misapprehension, or reprisal. Thanks to all.

Yeah...what he said.... ;P

Thanks

@jme: Thanks to you for your courage in sharing and for creating this valuable thread. I did not mean to hijack it! I am with you. Sorry for what happened to you. It was not your fault, and you did not deserve it. I hope my comments were helpful. Best wishes.

@jme: Thanks to you for your courage in sharing and for creating this valuable thread. I did not mean to hijack it! I am with you. Sorry for what happened to you. It was not your fault, and you did not deserve it. I hope my comments were helpful. Best wishes.

Thank you.

Nope, didn't feel like you hijacked the thread- just impressed by your articulate and loquacious commentary on how this site helps.

Although there have been some high profile cases in the media of doctor abuses of power in this regard, I wonder if the day will come that it is a similar to the household understanding of the abuses of the Catholic church. I guess one major difference is the ability of doctors to "covertly" abuse, since they can justify undressing their young victims.

@jme: You're welcome. Thanks for your kind feedback. My goal as a Puritan is always to help my brothers and sisters who have suffered, in one way or another, as I have done (and, sadly, as I still do today).

In my limited-experience with power-exchange, and in my lifelong experience in and with diapers, I have discovered nearly universally that persons like me who were sexually or physically or emotionally abused as children (or as adults) by those in power and dominion over them, and who feel compelled to explore fetish-play and roleplay, including age-play, by way of compensation, try with all their might (and often successfully, too) to retake control over their terrible experiences and to reverse past abuses of power by exploring and by reliving them erotically, voluntarily, safely, under controlled conditions (instead of involuntarily, over and over, in suffering serial PTSD attacks; tragically ironic for me and others that PTSD doesn't discriminate -- it induces involuntary reexperiencing of that which anandamide should eliminate but doesn't: the memories of abuse -- leading to the exact opposite of what we need, namely more involuntary suffering, this time generated from within, which feels just awful, leading to negative-feedback cycles and self-medication and self-destruction without interventive treatment, which for me includes safe emotional and erotic self-exploration and engaging here in frank, open, searching, revelatory, good-faith discussion and informal analysis and learning and mutual support with kindred spirits). I do that, and I gather many, many others here do too. For me, this site is not only a place where I can share eroticism and fetishistic talk and play (which I love, and which is healthy for me and others), but also a place where I can share my experiences intellectually and help others and not feel so alone. And I hope that is O.K.

Those who abuse in this way include not only parents (my experience -- about as bad as can be), but extended family members (my experience -- complicated, because my predatory Aunt imprinted me with my Pampers fetish, which I view as a blessing, not a curse, despite her illegitimate actions), teachers and principals (my experience -- very unhealthy), priests (not my experience, but my heart bleeds for those torn to pieces by this blasphemous use of the inverted collar to commit mortal sin upon those most trusting and vulnerable -- leveraging faith to prey upon the meek), physicians (our experience -- and I'm sorry for yours; compared to the other abuse I've suffered, this was but a mildly disturbing episode for me; there were so many others of such enormity that their combined effect upon my psyche was the infliction of permanent, irreparable harm and lifelong suffering and emotional distress), coaches and community leaders (not my experience, but just terrible), and even bullies (my experience -- could not have been worse). These persons are endowed, either inherently or societally, with power and status, including, in some cases (parents, caregivers, babysitters, physicians, and nurses), the power to make us undress and to subject us to, to make us submit to, highly charged treatments, actions, or punishments that we cannot control or stop. When that power is abused (a terrible sin), the sinister, perverse behavior of the abuser extends beyond simple imprinting with mild to moderate humilation into the realm of damage, much of which is irrefragable (organic) and can never be undone.

I am not a medical professional, but I postulate that iatrogenic (physician-inflicted) abuse (which I pray is rare) is especially hard for a juvenile (or even an adult) patient to spot and to address because doctors are licensed, have superior knowledge, are known to have sworn an oath to do no harm, and are regarded (quite understandably) as powerful, potent guardians of our well-being. Parents demand that we submit to pediatricians (who of course act in loco parentis, furthering and deeping and complicating our guilt after we suffer abuse) lest we be punished when we get home from the doctor's office for allegedly having been refractory, recalcitrant, or just plain "bad." Just like parents, pediatricians are presumed to know best, and they examine us and touch us and subject us to invasions of privacy and dignity and to all sorts of invasive tests and procedures under the wholesome rubric of doing to us what we need done, because it is best for us. The abused juvenile patient rarely speaks up (I did, because I have always been outspoken and because I was precocious and prodigious) for fear of punishment or ridicule or attack. And so the silence (to your point about prelate abuses) becomes endemic, and can allow these abusers to abuse serially, either vertically, within a single relationship, or horizontally, across-the-board.

So the last shall be first, and the first last, and the meek shall inherit the earth. Best to all.

Diaperfreindly,

I have never in all my years read writing as skilled as yours, really.

One point I might add to explain some of the guilt, confusion, pain, suffering and the general aftermath of the abuses that you so skillfully described is as follows While intellectually, we know it wasn't our fault we are met with mixed feelings by our own thinking and actions of reinforcement over time...the abusers may have pushed us toward the hill but we may feel as though we have 'chosen' to continue the journey of rolling down that hill- with all of the ensuing vertigo and nausea.

In youth we learn; in age we understand.

Thanks for your thoughtful post!

JME

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@JME: Thanks for the post and the message. I personally feel no guilt about wearing diapers (or exploring my other fetishes), although I do address those behaviors with the man upstairs on a daily basis as part of my faith.

I understand what you mean when you write of the vertigo and nausea of exploring what happened to you now that you are an adult. That passed for me long ago with self-acceptance and letting go of binging-and-purging my diapers supplies and wearing and everything related to that. I hope it passes for you, too, although it may not.

I have found extensive formal therapy in this area to be of no value to me, but I encourage you to explore it to see if it works for you. Just remember: it is O.K. to explore your past and your current behaviors, heady and paradoxical though they may be. These are your experiences, and you are a responsible adult, and you are entitled to do what you need to feel better, so long as it is safe and healthy and legal and all the rest. Best wishes.

"diaper supplies" and "to do what you need to do." Sorry. Eye-strain. Can't read my own typing sometimes. ~df

There are definitely doctors out there who were/are also child molesters or child rapists. No doubt about it, and they are very, very clever about it. I can't even go into *how* clever because I don't feel like puking at the moment.

It seemed every time I went to the Pediatricians Office for routine allergy shots there was always a teen boy or two in the waiting room scheduled for a Physical Exam. Then came my appointment with that Pediatrician for a Physical Exam. I was 14 and he really took his time as I lay on exam table clad in white briefs, he always excused the parent back to waiting room after the initial consultation. As the years passed I reflected on that exam a lot and how he tugged my briefs to knees and lingered in places with his bare hands. He also had me turn on tummy and over examined my fanny. Yes for sure back in the late 60s there were Perv Pediatricians and teen boys seemed to be their focus. These were Gentleman in SOLO Practices above a drug store or in small office building where a Dentist and Foot Doctor may also be found. These days I doubt this goes on as much since they are now part of large group practices with the emphasis on patient numbers. Also with the number of female pediatricians it would lessen the number of the old classic perv Gentleman Pediatrician. Yes, they were clever and knew just how to handle a boy on the exam table, they had years of experience at it and had found their niche with great perks. Too many people place the Pediatrician on the "Professional Pedestal" and are quick to say. "That would not happen." This Professional Pedestal thing has protected these men for decades because of a naïve public.

I know during my childhood my pediatrician always checked genitals for yearly checkups/physicals but when I was sick I don't really ever remember him checking genitals but as others have said... maybe it since it was the first time you had seen him it was "necessary".. 😃

Difficult to say if the Doctor was 'pervy'. Genital exams for boys is pretty common. As it was the first time that he had examined you, I guess he was just making sure that everything was in order. Better that than a cursory examination.

I have no memory at all of a family doctor ever checking my genitals, none at all, even though over the years with reading so many other people's accounts I've tried to bring something to mind. Yet even so, I can remember no instance.

Now this may simply mean I've forgotten it or thought nothing of it all. But that in itself would seem to show that had I had a genital exam when young, it certainly wasn't by any doctor being inappropriate about it.

And I can't help but ponder on this and wonder if much of what is described as being inappropriate isn't mainly in the mind, in a personal perception of things? Sometimes it's easy to be uncharitable in one's thoughts about others and to interpret things in the worst possible manner. And sensationalized media coverage of events does tend to bring out the worst in people's suppositions. Read about one true case and soon one starts wondering and seeing similarities where there are none. It makes life more exciting this way, seeing danger all around us and is a great topic of conversation in the right circles, but in the end it just makes life more unpleasant and difficult if you have to mistrust everyone you come into contact with.