United Kingdom: a third of female surgeons sexually assaulted by their colleagues

Nearly a third of British female surgeons have experienced sexual assault at the hands of their male colleagues in the UK in the last five years, according to a study published Tuesday, dubbed the surgical industry’s “Me Too moment”. The investigation, published in the British Journal of Surgery, shows that “sexual harassment and assault can be commonplace in British surgery and that rape does occur.” There is talk of a “normalization of unacceptable behavior.”

“It’s surgery’s MeToo moment,” responded Tamzin Cuming, the surgeon who chairs the Women in Surgery Forum, in the Times. “Now we will have to start the real work for profound change. » The study, in which 1,434 people in the surgical field (as many men as women) participated, shows that 29.9% of women have been victims of sexual assault in the last five years. Eleven rapes were reported. More than 63% of women have experienced sexual harassment from male colleagues and almost 90% of women have witnessed sexual harassment.

Nearly 11 percent of women experienced “forced physical contact” in connection with career opportunities, according to the study commissioned by a task force on inappropriate sexual behavior in surgery. The culture of silence is singled out, even if, when the study was published, a few women testified in the media.

Judith, who did not reveal her name, told the BBC of her attack: Early in her career, in the operating room, a sweating senior surgeon buried his head in her breasts. “I realized he was wiping his forehead on me. » The second time he approached her chest, she offered him a towel. “No, it’s a lot nicer this way,” he replied, without anyone reacting in the operating room.

The survey “shows that women and men who work in the surgical sector experience different realities,” its authors conclude. These harassments and attacks are encouraged by “the combination of a deeply hierarchical structure and a gender and power imbalance,” the authors write. Only 15% of the highest ranking surgeons are women. And, across the entire profession, less than 30% are women.