Let me call you sweetheart...

My experiences as a female physician are completely different from those of my male colleagues. This blog won't be completely about what it's like to be a girl doc, but the first few postings will. I am repeatedly called "baby", "sweetie", and "honey" by male patients. I can easily forgive these slights from older patients. After all, they were raised in an era when that was acceptable. But people my own age!?! I try to let it slide, but one 30 year old patient called me "sweetheart" one too many times. I asked him not to keep calling me that, but that only encouraged him. As I pulled on my glove to do a rectal exam, he said, "I don't really need that, do I sweetheart?" I just smiled, saying, "Lower your pants, and that's DOCTOR sweetheart to you."