Misogyny in Health Professions? An Analysis of the Dalhousie Dentistry Scandal

Authors

  • Kelly Hunter Faculty of Medicine, Memorial University, Health Sciences Centre, St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada
  • Erika Maxwell Faculty of Medicine, Memorial University, Health Sciences Centre, St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada
  • Fern Brunger Faculty of Medicine, Memorial University, Health Sciences Centre, St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7202/1035508ar

Keywords:

Dalhousie Dentistry, misogyny, health professions, sexual objectification, Foucault, manhood acts, hidden curriculum

Language(s):

English

Abstract

This commentary offers an explanation for how and why the Dalhousie Dentistry scandal could occur in a society and time where traditional gender roles are seemingly being eradicated. We use Foucault’s modes of objectification, applied to an analysis of the use of “manhood acts” and in relation to the hidden curriculum, to argue that when women threaten the authority of men in health professions, men may subconsciously look for ways to re-exert an unequal and gendered subject-object binary.

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Published

2015-09-08

Issue

Section

Commentary