For the female EMS'ers out there

[DwayneEMTP]

:shock: WOW...holy crap.....

OK, so here's my two cents: WOMEN, GIRLS, CHICKS, FEMALES......get over it! :roll:

If you are pointed out as being incapable or inadequate at your job, its probably because YOU ARE!!!!!!! Don't go blaming it on other people, like my new, green female partner does. She has an excuse for EVERYTHING! She thinks everyone is out to get her because she's a female, and its not. It's because she's not right for the job. It has nothing to do with her having a vagina!!!!!!! It has to do with her being an idiot.

Jesus, to use the excuse of sexism for not getting the job done is just plain ridiculous.

:roll: So with that out of the way, I feel that sometimes people are just plain ignorant. These ignorant people are not just against the feminine field workers, but probably towards ALL persons who aren't like them. They're cynical and ignorant, or perhaps just naive. You cannot blame an elderly person for the way they were brought up. If they look at the older member on the crew, the male on the crew, its because of their upbringing; they don't know any better. You can change this by politely acknowledging their 'mistake' and correcting them in a fashion that isn't offensive or embarrassing. If you don't you're just another part of the problem.

Now yes, I have come across people who are just plain sexist. But ask yourself this.... how did they become this way? Wasn't it from the lessons/ role models of their past? It isn't genetic, it's cultural. Be a role model yourself and attempt to teach them what they did isn't right. If they don't want to learn, then they're obviously not worth your time, so why get all huffy about it? Unless your life is ultimately jeopardized by their actions and even with the attempt(s) to change it, is it worth getting bent out of shape?

The bottom line is this.........at the end of the day, when the job is done, did you do your best? 8)

I am a paramedic. I am NOT a blonde, sexy, tall, female, white, Christian medic...... I am just a medic.

Man, Laura Anne, I've been missing you! Awsome post as usual. Thanks for your thoughts.

Dwayne

[Kaisu]

I've had 3 or 4 different people tell me that part of the reason I had such a rough intro to my current service is because I was a woman and there are people who still believe women do not belong in this profession. I know that seems ridiculous in this time and age but there it is. I know that of 4 newbies (1 male and female each EMT and Medic), the males had a much easier time of it. There was instant acceptance because of the common ground of being guys. Do a headcount and you will find that in most services, men outnumber women. To claim that sexism is not an issue in EMS is being willfully ignorant. Sometime, we cannot afford to recognize the difficulties we face because we need the focus to cope with the more important issues.

Further, I did my paramedic ride time in a service where the majority of medics were female. It was amazing. Several days after my intro to this, I was at another station that was the more typical configuration of male majority. I watched the interactions of the males with each other and the women standing off to one side. I was hit with the realization that the way it was for me at the female dominant service was the way it was for the guys all the time. I had a better understanding of the "brotherhood" thing they jabber on about. It's pretty nice if you can get it.

Saying that you don't care if the partner is a man or a woman as long as they can lift is setting up a straw man. Why should advanced pre-hospital care providers need to lift? I know that the way things are currently set up, you gotta lift - but how hard would it be to set up things differently? To make medical knowledge and delivery of care more important than your ability to extricate or lift one of those ridiculously badly designed (read cheap) gurneys onto a box on wheels that is equally ridiculously badly designed is really putting the emphasis on the wrong thing.

I can lift with the best of them and can outrun most of the fat ass*s I work with. They can get away with being fat and out of shape. I cannot because people will always wanna know if I can lift.

[akflightmedic]

Oh one additional comment, I have done some of my best work while being supervised and working under Women.

Me too!!

[spenac]

I think that was referring to those who get the CPR done to them, not those who DO the CPR.

Perhaps the rescuers felt uncomfortable putting their hands on a woman's chest? Just thinking out loud, there...

Actually reread it it was both those getting cpr and those performing cpr that women did worse or got worse.

[ccmedoc]

Political Correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end..

THAT is one of the funniest, yet very true, statements I have ever heard...I laugh out loud every time I read it...

Thanks for giggle

In my opinion, Laura Anne has the most realistic, adult view of this whole thing.

I can't stomach much of the he vs. she rhetoric.

[akflightmedic]

I am NOT a blonde, sexy, tall, female, white, Christian medic

Neither am I....regardless, great post!

[spenac]

For those that argue it isn't rocket science would this be proof that women shouldn't be in space, thus should not be in EMS?

http://www.ajc.com/services/content/printe...19/shuttle.html

:wink:

[firedoc5]

When it comes to the size of the female usually being smaller than the male, then I've got something to really interject.

When I started EMS I was (am) 5' 3" and weighed less than 120 lbs. Yes there were comments made and a lot of jokes (ha ha). But I proved myself. I might have had to work twice as hard to do it...Same with petite woman. In all fairness, let them prove themselves. Many times I was partnered with a gal who was very close to the same size of me, but she could whip your butt if she wanted to. Every now and then we'd get a patient that would tell us that the two of us couldn't lift her. So one or the other one of us picked her up and put her on the cot. Like I said, prove yourself.

Of course one of the jokes was that at least when we lifted a cot, it would be level. And of course their was the joke when I worked with several guys well over 6 ft. that we had to watch to not tilt the patient, or asked if I needed a step stool.

But women, men, all of different sizes, especially the more "vertically challenged" must prove themselves.

[tniuqs]

THAT is one of the funniest, yet very true, statements I have ever heard...I laugh out loud every time I read it...

Thanks for giggle

In my opinion, Laura Anne has the most realistic, adult view of this whole thing.

I can't stomach much of the he vs. she rhetoric.

I wish I could claim that quote: its not my origional work it does reflect and quite seriously, on the state of affairs in Canada in fact with hiring based on past discrimination against women.

ALL things being equal, like experiance, merit, education then the position shall go to the visable minority .. thats in many government labour regulations ...

I had applied for a position BUT I did not get the position because I did not "fit" in funny thing the shiny new Female Paramedic with a whole 6 months on Car (and very good looking too) got hired ... talk about discrimination against experianced medics, it goes both ways.

Two Wrongs do not make a Right.

[firedoc5]

I wish I could claim that quote: its not my origional work it does reflect and quite seriously, on the state of affairs in Canada in fact with hiring based on past discrimination against women.

ALL things being equal, like experiance, merit, education then the position shall go to the visable minority .. thats in many government labour regulations ...

I had applied for a position BUT I did not get the position because I did not "fit" in funny thing the shiny new Female Paramedic with a whole 6 months on Car (and very good looking too) got hired ... talk about discrimination against experianced medics, it goes both ways.

Two Wrongs do not make a Right.

Bummer. Maybe she showed more cleavage or something. You never know about some of these people.