CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2023
| Author | Donelan, Doris |
|---|---|
| Title | Go Do a Pelvic: A Critical Analysis of Nonconsensual Pelvic Exams |
| Summary | In the United States, a nonconsensual pelvic exam typically occurs when a medical student is brought into an operating room at a teaching hospital to conduct a pelvic exam for training purposes on an unconscious and nonconsenting patient, purely for the student’s own educational fulfillment. Regarding this concerning practice, I am particularly interested in how what is commonly viewed as sexual assault and/or rape outside of hospital settings can manifest as standard procedure in obstetrics and gynecology (OBGYN) training spaces. Additionally, I am investigating how nonconsensual pelvic exams represent a historical trend in U.S. science and gynecology to nonconsensually utilize certain gendered, raced, and classed bodies in the name of moving the medical profession forward. I argue that it is because U.S. medical institutions are vested with large amounts of authority and claims to “truth” and knowledge making processes that a practice like nonconsensual pelvic exams on certain bodies can become normalized and part of the fabric of OBGYN training. To gather data for my thesis, I conducted 12 semi-structured interviews with medical students who have recently completed their OBGYN training in U.S. teaching hospitals. I engaged in self-reflective feminist qualitative research throughout these interviews, which meant that what the medical students shared with me often framed my own thoughts and analysis of the data. Through my analysis of the interview data, I revealed a disturbing tendency in OBGYN training to allow for the continued practice of nonconsensual pelvic exams, while at the same time the medical students often assured me their institutions were following best practices in terms of always obtaining informed consent. This contradiction reveals a systematic continuation of nonconsensual pelvic exams, under the guise of U.S. medical institutions respecting patient autonomy and agency. If teaching hospitals in the U.S. really want to end the practice of nonconsensual pelvic exams, a thorough anti-hierarchical restructuring of OBGYN training spaces would be required. |
| Supervisor | Renkin, Hadley |
| Department | Gender Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2023/donelan_doris.pdf |
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