Introduction
Who gets to decide what is considered professional? Does what you do or what you wear outside the workplace impact how professional one might seem when at work? Recently, an article was published arguing that young female vascular surgeons posting ‘unprofessional’ pictures to their social media accounts were disreputable. The article stated that this social media content can not only affect how patients choose physicians, hospitals, etc. but also professional reputations between colleagues and employers. Researchers concluded that young professionals should be more cautious about public exposure of ‘unprofessional’ content that is accessible by peers, patients, and employers. As a result, #MedBikini has become a movement within the female physician’s discourse. Although the article has been retracted, who decides what is professional, or unprofessional, and how does their definitions change within one’s social life and work life.
Underlying Issue
Some of the issues, including patient privacy, and illegal drug use, addressed in this article were
critical for patient care. However, the other issues discussed invaded the privacy of the lives of
young physicians, partially female physicians. Creating three “neutral,” in other words fake,
accounts, the researchers investigated the social media feeds of young surgeons. Poses in bikinis
and ‘provocative’ Halloween costumes were considered unprofessional behaviors. This article
quickly gained the world’s attention, specifically, the notion focused on how young female
surgeons dress when they are not working. In mutual support, the hashtag #MedBikini quickly
became viral bringing a multitude of female, and even male, physicians to post themselves in
bikinis or casual attire. This article and movement brought light to a big issue in the medical
field. The underlying issue of the article, and why so many people stood against it, is the
perception of women being weaker in every aspect of society, even in the world of medicine.
#MedBikini Movement
Multiple females, and some male physicians have turned to their social media accounts to show
support against this article and to their colleagues. One popular post many have seen is Dr.
Candice Myhre. Dr. Myhre made a post with images showing her treating an injured patient at
the beach all the way into the hospital in her bikini. She goes on to caption this post with “Dr.
Bikini ? will save your life in the middle of the ocean when you get hit by a boat”. She
continues to describe what she did to save this injured individual all while wearing her swimsuit.
Wearing a bikini does not make one less fit to treat or help an injured individual as one can see
by Dr. Candice’s post. Physicians have an important job in today’s society; however, they are
still human. Going to the beach, or going on vacation, they should be allowed to wear whatever
they want without having to be called unprofessional. The authors of this article “targeted young
female surgeons,” who face many uphill battles in their journey to becoming a physician.
#MedBikini is a social media movement to shine a light on the underlying problem.
Conclusion:
The article has brought light to the issue of sexism in the medical field. Although there are more
opportunities now for women in the field, there is still a long way to go. To a point, physicians
deserve to be held to a higher standard because of the responsibilities they have. As physicians
they bear a responsibility to their patients as well as those that they teach, train, and mentor.
However, similar to all other work fields, their jobs do not define them as a person outside of
work. A lot of the “inappropriate” behavior that these writers wrote about were activities that
many participate in everyday: female physicians in bikinis, holding alcoholic beverages, and
discussing politics. As stated before, these physicians are humans who enjoy wearing a bathing
suit at the beach, at the pool, or on vacation, they are allowed to enjoy adult beverages, when not
on call, as well as have the right to talk about their opinions on current events happening. They
have different components that make them who they are, they are not just medical professionals.
This article brought about a movement to stand for equality in the work field, specifically the
medical field. Although #MedBikini has shined a light on the misogyny in medicine. The
unspoken prejudice creates barriers for equality in the medical field. What defines being
professional? Definitely not something that an individual decides to do outside his or her work.