March 19, 2015

Yes I'm a feminist

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. 

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