I was thinking about my call with customer service yesterday to the online pharmacy. I realized they kept referring to my doctor as "him". At first I didn't think much of it even though I felt kinda bothered and then I realized it's just oddly sexist. Not to mention lazy on their part. My doctors first name is Katherine. I mean, okay, maybe her first name wasn't on the order details but in that case wouldn't it be better to stick to "your doctor" or "them". I mean, they're a big company who deals with prescriptions all day, a significant number of which must be written by female doctors. Do they just assume all those doctors are male? This is a professional business, why are they making sweeping gender assumptions? That makes me even more happy that I'm not doing business with them. I don't need that kind of sexism in my life.
You might think it's not a huge deal but subtle insults are the worst. It's basically saying the default is men and if you're a woman doctor that's just weird. I think this issue also highlights how useful it would be to have a gender neutral pronoun. Can't we just refer to a person without specifying what kind of genitalia they own? It's not really necessary unless you're in a dating situation. Or getting a physical.
You might think it's not a huge deal but subtle insults are the worst. It's basically saying the default is men and if you're a woman doctor that's just weird. I think this issue also highlights how useful it would be to have a gender neutral pronoun. Can't we just refer to a person without specifying what kind of genitalia they own? It's not really necessary unless you're in a dating situation. Or getting a physical.
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