If you’re one of the many fabulous physicians out there, here’s a great big HIGH FIVE. Bless your heart and keep up the good work. We need you, and what you do matters like nobody’s business. Thank you for sacrificing so much in your own life in order to serve others. (I gush more in my Love Letter To Doctors.)

But if you’re one of the bazillion doctors my readers write to me about, let me relay a few of the things I’ve learned from the women who read What's Up Down There, attend my public speaking events, comment here on Owning Pink, come to my workshops, and send me emails.

Remember doctors -- way too many women have been molested, raped, or otherwise traumatized. Getting naked and giving someone else permission to touch is a big deal for some women, so be respectful.

I asked my readers how they wanted to be treated by their doctors, and here’s what they had to say.

How To Treat A Woman In The Exam Room

1. Please allow plenty of time to answer my questions -- it may be hard for me to think if I am stressed and feel like you’re too rushed.
2. How I feel is not in my imagination. Honor me. Honor my intuition. Honor my body. And don't think you know my body better than me just because you’re a doctor.
3. Give me the benefit of the doubt that I do know my own body. Act like my appointment is part of your day and not just a hassle.
4. Listen and make eye contact with me.
5. Ditch the paper gowns and make me feel like what touches my skin matters.
6. Know my name.
7. Let me have as much clothing on as possible during the process of being your patient.
8. Ask before touching me -- and keep checking in to make sure I’m okay. I may have disconnected from my body/mind and thus not be able to initiate verbalization if and when I need you to stop/slow down, and it may be easier to respond if directly asked.
9. Please respect my autonomy and tell me that it's OK to make my own decisions about what is best for me, even if they go against your recommendations.
10. Don’t roll your eyes if I show up with printouts from internet searches I’ve done. I’m just trying to be an informed health care consumer and don’t need your judgment.
11. Please make sure you move slowly and speak in a calm tone; voices that are loud or sound even slightly angry or impatient freak me out.
12. Take your hand off the damn door, look up from my chart, and sit down. Even if you’re busy, make me feel like you’re present for the brief time I have your attention.

What do you want your doctor to know about how to treat you? I took off my OB/GYN gloves to honor my calling as a Pink Medicine Woman coach but I will never stop advocating for female patients and empowering women to TALK about what they WANT and NEED -- even, and especially, in the exam room. (More about getting clear on what you want and accessing your sacred female power in my new ecourse, Get Out Of Your Own Way!)

Standing for -- and with you,

Lissa

Lissa Rankin, MD: Founder of OwningPink.com, Pink Medicine Woman coach, motivational speaker, and author of What’s Up Down There? Questions You’d Only Ask Your Gynecologist If She Was Your Best Friend and Encaustic Art: The Complete Guide To Creating Fine Art With Wax.