Med Student Was Penalized By Examiners For ‘The Most Inappropriate Dress They Had Ever Seen’
One tropical disease biology graduate and content creator who shares some very useful study materials, entrance exams and advice with her Instagram followers recently got into an unpleasant situation.
While doing her OSCE exam, the student was “yellow carded for wearing a ‘short skirt.’” Eilidh’s friend posted about the incident on Twitter, asking a question that was probably on many people’s minds: “could someone explain to me how it’s 2021 & medical schools are still pushing sexist notions of primness upon its female student cohort for daring to display their ankles.” There was also an image of Eilidh wearing a classy knee-length dress that’s likely not something that comes to your mind when you hear the word ‘inappropriate.’
So let’s get into the whole incident right below, which hopefully shows just how much patriarchal nonsense women have to endure on a daily basis. And in this instance, academia, sadly, turns out not to be an exception.
A medical student has received an academic penalty for wearing an “inappropriate dress”
Image credits: MedicGrandpa
After her friend shared a post on Twitter, the student herself posted this update on the incident
Image credits: thegradmedic
Image credits: thegradmedic
There is plenty of evidence to show that gender bias plays out against women in academic hiring, tenure and promotion, as well as in teaching evaluations. The unconscious, ingrained nature of gender bias and discrimination can make these barriers pervasive and hard to prove. Combined with widespread sexual harassment in both laboratories and fieldwork, these phenomena can drive young women away from academic careers.
The university tried to explain the incident claiming it was part of a role-play of an exam
Image credits: UniofNewcastle
Nevertheless, they agreed that the examiner was wrong to give the student a penalty of a yellow card
Image credits: UniofNewcastle
Image credits: UniofNewcastle
But the student claimed that was not what happened
Image credits: thegradmedic
So Bored Panda spoke to another woman student who wanted to remain anonymous, who told Bored Panda that patriarchy and discrimination are indeed a painful spot of academia. “I think there needs to be a wider awareness of the nature of these comments—why is it felt that showing some extra skin demeans people’s perception of us professionally?” she told us.
Moreover, the student believes that the whole issue is “steeped in old-fashioned and traditional views that women’s skin may be in some way distracting, or that the sight of the skin above our kneecaps makes us any less professional.”
Sadly, many women keep such stories to themselves, and we only hear a fraction of similar instances that reach the media. “I suppose the issue is that it’s not uncommon at all for doctors and students to fear speaking out publicly for fear of professional repercussions,” the female student commented.
Some people thought the university was right to give the student a penalty for wearing what they called an ‘inappropriate dress’
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Bored Panda dug deeper into the incident and found out from a reliable source that the comment of the dress being the most unprofessional the examiner had seen during her time examining at the university was made after the station had ended and the actor was no longer in character.
Moreover, we found out that it is up to the clinician to lodge a yellow card and that it stated ‘student had short dress with no leg coverings—roleplayer commented immediately after station looks unprofessional. I agree.’”
But most of the people couldn’t wrap their head around the whole situation and supported the student
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Share on FacebookThe first 2 reponses from those men. Holy Cow, how is this still happening?
Right! Came here just for that. Anybody agreeing with the examiner or these two men can f**k right off, back to the 19th century, where they belong.
Load More Replies...So a modest, knee+ length dress that covers her shoulders and is not cut in any way to be revealing is inappropriate? My jaw is on the floor. WTF
Not just inappropriate...the *most inappropriate* they had ever seen. Ridiculous.
Load More Replies...What are they harping on about?? Female consultants wear dresses EXACTLY like that to work in a hospital every day!
Bitches were jealous that she had such a nice fitted dress, failed her for it.
Dress like a nun, yuou have a chance in medicine. And that even if your bosses are women. The dress is business casual, she'd have a white coat on over it, and it's not uncommon for women to wear something other than nun-habits or trousers if they're the clinician and not in surgery. Three piece suits for women also get penalized (too offputting, as I was told). Sad to see med school hasn't changed in 25 years. *sigh*
Considering all the nuns I know wear casual to biz casual when teaching and very casual when not...heh. Wonder how the examiners would feel about threadbare sweatpants 😉
Load More Replies...Okay I get the whole needs to have a standard dress, people are sheep in stressful times and look to those who look like they are in a position of authority. Someone rocking up in holiday tank top, shorts and thongs might not reflect authority. But this dress is business attire so I do not understand the issue. Also how many people would notice if ankles are showing?
I worked at a hospital for sixteen years. Any schmuck can wear a suit and tie.
Perhaps she was wearing a different dress than the one pictured? Calling that “the most inappropriate dress” seems insane.
Load More Replies...The problem was NOT that her dress or skirt was "too short" but that she wasn't wearing "leg coverings" aka hose. The dress was quite fashionable, modest, dressy and perfect for a "formal" interview. They need more women on the "interview' boards rather than all those misogynistic males. This was in Newcastle, which does not surprise me as it seems that "scholastically" males at "higher centers of learning" have the sexual IQ of lava.
We really need to get rid of such nonsense where people can get their future jeopardised for the appearance of actually decent looking clothing. She clearly was not deliberately dressing in a way with the intention to look 'inappropriate', so she should not be blamed.
I once had a director ask me to only wear pants to work. Dress code is business attire. Never wore short skirts, or skirts/dresses without tights/leggings. I’ve always been shapely. I need to hide my body so you can control yourself? The lengths people go to blame others for their lack of self control.
If this dress in the photo is "the most inappropriate dress they've ever seen", I suppose, they didn't see a lot of dresses in their life. It's black, it covers knees and shoulders, very modest cleavage, it doesn't have any obscene images or text written on it. I fail to see anything remotely inappropriate in this dress.
Sometimes certain clothing is required, because circumstances of the profession demand it. In reference to 'Robert Falls' above, yes that dress might not be appropriate attire for someone interviewing to be an auto mechanic, construction foreman, an EMT, or another profession where protective attire is required for the work. Other times clothing is simply whatever we have chosen to wear. In a professional capacity anything which is clean and tidy (presents well) is appropriate, and this dress absolutely presents well for an interview. There is also a huge difference between 'atypical' and 'unacceptable.'
Dear doctors, you can wear whatever the hell you want when you are treating me. Thanks by the way for that!
Blatant discrimination. It appears the school is located in a country that seems to believe it is still in the 19th century.
I went to a very strict conservative college and that dress would have be acceptable...so I'm just super confused
The only problem I can see is that it is form fitting. To a man or insecure woman it would be seen as sexy just for that reason.
so what IS appropriate then? inconvenient and getting-in-the-way ankle length dress with long sleeves and a turtleneck?
This is part of a larger issue and not just a gender specific. People put too much value on appearance. I've learnt this early on. A junior colleague that looks more "established" basically regurgitating the same things I said, sometimes ad verbatim, will be more convincing. This is because I look a lot younger than my age.
Definitely says more about the examiners, than about the student. My doctor a couple of weeks ago wore an identical dress. Should I tell her next visit that is the most inappropriate dress I have ever seen? She seemed to examine me properly. I would suggest that if examiners are so worried about such things, then they are definitely in the wrong job. Those who can, do; those who can't, teach; those who fail miserably, examine."
So, the examiners are saying that they are distracted by your clothing and can't think clearly. Whoever said academics were progressive should read this!
Wow... if this had happened to a woman in my year I'd have come in wearing a FULL burqa, and had all the other girls do the same. That navy blue number is absolutely perfect for the job, and leg coverings has to be a typo of some kind, because only women in the oldest profession need be judged by their legs. This whole story is just upsetting to see in the medical field of all places.
Robert Falls u r a joke! actually, a bloody damn foo!! Go find some cranky old geezer that thinks like you and leave female Dr.s to take care of those of us who want excellent medical care. u stick with your antiquated ideas and your old geezers in their high water waist high pants held up by suspenders! Bloody men these days!!!
So basically it was the role playing patient who made the comment and gave the yellow card and not the school. yet she is casting sexist blaming on the school.
So it wasn't the school that made the comment but rather the role playing patient?
Why don't med schools, teach medicine because as you can see by this post it depends on who teaches remember garbage in garbage out! Why is it mostly the women who are called on this - there was nothing wrong with this dress and don't med students usually wear a lab coat over their street clothes. Wonderful how the university started to kiss ass when objections were raised - that there was nothing wrong with her clothing! So if doctors can be called out for their dress I got one for you - one doctor I saw came in the exam room looking like he just plowed the back forth using a mule and didn't have a mask was he called out for that - big NOPE!
sooo.. women's bodies shouldn't exist in the realms of medicine. You want a floating head to treat you... what's appropriate then - a body bag with a cut out panel so you can see our eyes & mouth.
i hate dresses, they are uncomfortable and stupid and should be banned for men and women alike. if this was a male wearing shorts would it have been inappropriate? yes. we should all have been issued our silver jumpsuits 21 years ago with our flying cars anyway.
When I gave birth to my son, the on-call OBGYN (a man) showed up in shorts, t-shirt and Birkenstocks. No one batted an eye. He was a doc, there to do his job. He put a smock on and got on with bringing my boy into the world. This focus on only WOMENS clothes is stupid, outdated and highly patriarchal.
Completely outrageous remarks by the proctor and other administration officials.
IMAGINE IF SHE WORE A THANKTOP! such inapropriate behaviour of a woman who should be nurse instead of doctor anyway! ....a male patient would just fall instantly in a comatose state because of her inappropriate dress and lack of blood supply to his brain due to all of it flowing down to his lower limbs... Ducking hell man! what's wrong with your baby child brains 13 to 16 years old teens think like that about women NOT adult men!
In days gone by the medical profession was biased against women and it obviously hasn't changed.
The dress is fine. The problem is with the examiners. It triggered their lust.
The fact that this was done to a med student just makes it sadder. Wanting to save lives and penalized because of her clothes like it's the fricking 1800s!
"showing her ankles" . . . . . When did we reintroduce the late 1800s? It's blinding obvious that the young Lass has a 1940s aesthetic going on what with the hair style and very period dress style: she looks absolutely fine. Hell, I wore nursing pajamas at work ( scrubs) and some doctors wore what was essentially dress for attending theatre, the stage one, and I'm not kidding: one doctor wore gorgeous outfits that Grace Kelly would die for. I would seriously question the motives of anyone saying this outfit is inappropriate.
Did she also get penalized for not prescribing leeches to treat internal infections?
The dress is great and she looks good. Presumably the "patient" was a stranger. I must say if I was the patient in the situation outlined, I would rather have a professional looking carer in comfortable clothing and not have their bare legs showing (if or when) they leaned over or sat down. (Don't distract the patient chaps!)
I was reading back through her twitter feed and I have a question that’s totally unrelated: why is a young woman getting botox? And why is a young medical professional unsure if she’s got Botox side effects or Covid? Totally unrelated to the bizarre behaviour from her examiners, just something I was idly curious about.
The irony is that this is Newcastle University. (if you get it you get it. Gotta love a Geordie style night out, right? xD)
but in all seriousness, that dress is lovely and smart imo and the whole situation is some major bollocks.
Load More Replies...Not appropriate is correct. Any doctor or med student can clearly understand what this woman did. If you cannot then you're opinion is ignorant.
Wow, I have a dress very similar to that one. I wore it for my graduation and for funerals, but apparently it's incredibly inappropriate!
Any form of "formal attire" when working labs or clinics is abjectly STUPID. The suit and tie "professional look" - just a way of ensuring that you are drinking the kool-aid. Men have to follow BS rules in many industries that are just as ridiculous as this crap. Frankly, when I see a suit, I trust them LESS than I would someone in comfortable, appropriate attire - ie scrubs in medicine, coveralls on a mechanic, apron on a chef etc. A Tie is the symbol of a slave
Whaaat?? In my place that is the very attire doctor usually use.. I think that my community dominantly moslem the our clothing custom is more rigid.. Or may be you can move here where people more relaxed on such thing..
Why not? That dress is boring and professional in the extreme!
Load More Replies...Thats just what they did??? DIDNT you see the tweets made by the university in response?? Or are you looking for something to bitch about
Load More Replies...How was that bending the rules? How was that dress inappropriate in any way? The only people agreeing with the examiner are fellow masochists. Imagine thinking dress codes are set in stone.
Load More Replies...The first 2 reponses from those men. Holy Cow, how is this still happening?
Right! Came here just for that. Anybody agreeing with the examiner or these two men can f**k right off, back to the 19th century, where they belong.
Load More Replies...So a modest, knee+ length dress that covers her shoulders and is not cut in any way to be revealing is inappropriate? My jaw is on the floor. WTF
Not just inappropriate...the *most inappropriate* they had ever seen. Ridiculous.
Load More Replies...What are they harping on about?? Female consultants wear dresses EXACTLY like that to work in a hospital every day!
Bitches were jealous that she had such a nice fitted dress, failed her for it.
Dress like a nun, yuou have a chance in medicine. And that even if your bosses are women. The dress is business casual, she'd have a white coat on over it, and it's not uncommon for women to wear something other than nun-habits or trousers if they're the clinician and not in surgery. Three piece suits for women also get penalized (too offputting, as I was told). Sad to see med school hasn't changed in 25 years. *sigh*
Considering all the nuns I know wear casual to biz casual when teaching and very casual when not...heh. Wonder how the examiners would feel about threadbare sweatpants 😉
Load More Replies...Okay I get the whole needs to have a standard dress, people are sheep in stressful times and look to those who look like they are in a position of authority. Someone rocking up in holiday tank top, shorts and thongs might not reflect authority. But this dress is business attire so I do not understand the issue. Also how many people would notice if ankles are showing?
I worked at a hospital for sixteen years. Any schmuck can wear a suit and tie.
Perhaps she was wearing a different dress than the one pictured? Calling that “the most inappropriate dress” seems insane.
Load More Replies...The problem was NOT that her dress or skirt was "too short" but that she wasn't wearing "leg coverings" aka hose. The dress was quite fashionable, modest, dressy and perfect for a "formal" interview. They need more women on the "interview' boards rather than all those misogynistic males. This was in Newcastle, which does not surprise me as it seems that "scholastically" males at "higher centers of learning" have the sexual IQ of lava.
We really need to get rid of such nonsense where people can get their future jeopardised for the appearance of actually decent looking clothing. She clearly was not deliberately dressing in a way with the intention to look 'inappropriate', so she should not be blamed.
I once had a director ask me to only wear pants to work. Dress code is business attire. Never wore short skirts, or skirts/dresses without tights/leggings. I’ve always been shapely. I need to hide my body so you can control yourself? The lengths people go to blame others for their lack of self control.
If this dress in the photo is "the most inappropriate dress they've ever seen", I suppose, they didn't see a lot of dresses in their life. It's black, it covers knees and shoulders, very modest cleavage, it doesn't have any obscene images or text written on it. I fail to see anything remotely inappropriate in this dress.
Sometimes certain clothing is required, because circumstances of the profession demand it. In reference to 'Robert Falls' above, yes that dress might not be appropriate attire for someone interviewing to be an auto mechanic, construction foreman, an EMT, or another profession where protective attire is required for the work. Other times clothing is simply whatever we have chosen to wear. In a professional capacity anything which is clean and tidy (presents well) is appropriate, and this dress absolutely presents well for an interview. There is also a huge difference between 'atypical' and 'unacceptable.'
Dear doctors, you can wear whatever the hell you want when you are treating me. Thanks by the way for that!
Blatant discrimination. It appears the school is located in a country that seems to believe it is still in the 19th century.
I went to a very strict conservative college and that dress would have be acceptable...so I'm just super confused
The only problem I can see is that it is form fitting. To a man or insecure woman it would be seen as sexy just for that reason.
so what IS appropriate then? inconvenient and getting-in-the-way ankle length dress with long sleeves and a turtleneck?
This is part of a larger issue and not just a gender specific. People put too much value on appearance. I've learnt this early on. A junior colleague that looks more "established" basically regurgitating the same things I said, sometimes ad verbatim, will be more convincing. This is because I look a lot younger than my age.
Definitely says more about the examiners, than about the student. My doctor a couple of weeks ago wore an identical dress. Should I tell her next visit that is the most inappropriate dress I have ever seen? She seemed to examine me properly. I would suggest that if examiners are so worried about such things, then they are definitely in the wrong job. Those who can, do; those who can't, teach; those who fail miserably, examine."
So, the examiners are saying that they are distracted by your clothing and can't think clearly. Whoever said academics were progressive should read this!
Wow... if this had happened to a woman in my year I'd have come in wearing a FULL burqa, and had all the other girls do the same. That navy blue number is absolutely perfect for the job, and leg coverings has to be a typo of some kind, because only women in the oldest profession need be judged by their legs. This whole story is just upsetting to see in the medical field of all places.
Robert Falls u r a joke! actually, a bloody damn foo!! Go find some cranky old geezer that thinks like you and leave female Dr.s to take care of those of us who want excellent medical care. u stick with your antiquated ideas and your old geezers in their high water waist high pants held up by suspenders! Bloody men these days!!!
So basically it was the role playing patient who made the comment and gave the yellow card and not the school. yet she is casting sexist blaming on the school.
So it wasn't the school that made the comment but rather the role playing patient?
Why don't med schools, teach medicine because as you can see by this post it depends on who teaches remember garbage in garbage out! Why is it mostly the women who are called on this - there was nothing wrong with this dress and don't med students usually wear a lab coat over their street clothes. Wonderful how the university started to kiss ass when objections were raised - that there was nothing wrong with her clothing! So if doctors can be called out for their dress I got one for you - one doctor I saw came in the exam room looking like he just plowed the back forth using a mule and didn't have a mask was he called out for that - big NOPE!
sooo.. women's bodies shouldn't exist in the realms of medicine. You want a floating head to treat you... what's appropriate then - a body bag with a cut out panel so you can see our eyes & mouth.
i hate dresses, they are uncomfortable and stupid and should be banned for men and women alike. if this was a male wearing shorts would it have been inappropriate? yes. we should all have been issued our silver jumpsuits 21 years ago with our flying cars anyway.
When I gave birth to my son, the on-call OBGYN (a man) showed up in shorts, t-shirt and Birkenstocks. No one batted an eye. He was a doc, there to do his job. He put a smock on and got on with bringing my boy into the world. This focus on only WOMENS clothes is stupid, outdated and highly patriarchal.
Completely outrageous remarks by the proctor and other administration officials.
IMAGINE IF SHE WORE A THANKTOP! such inapropriate behaviour of a woman who should be nurse instead of doctor anyway! ....a male patient would just fall instantly in a comatose state because of her inappropriate dress and lack of blood supply to his brain due to all of it flowing down to his lower limbs... Ducking hell man! what's wrong with your baby child brains 13 to 16 years old teens think like that about women NOT adult men!
In days gone by the medical profession was biased against women and it obviously hasn't changed.
The dress is fine. The problem is with the examiners. It triggered their lust.
The fact that this was done to a med student just makes it sadder. Wanting to save lives and penalized because of her clothes like it's the fricking 1800s!
"showing her ankles" . . . . . When did we reintroduce the late 1800s? It's blinding obvious that the young Lass has a 1940s aesthetic going on what with the hair style and very period dress style: she looks absolutely fine. Hell, I wore nursing pajamas at work ( scrubs) and some doctors wore what was essentially dress for attending theatre, the stage one, and I'm not kidding: one doctor wore gorgeous outfits that Grace Kelly would die for. I would seriously question the motives of anyone saying this outfit is inappropriate.
Did she also get penalized for not prescribing leeches to treat internal infections?
The dress is great and she looks good. Presumably the "patient" was a stranger. I must say if I was the patient in the situation outlined, I would rather have a professional looking carer in comfortable clothing and not have their bare legs showing (if or when) they leaned over or sat down. (Don't distract the patient chaps!)
I was reading back through her twitter feed and I have a question that’s totally unrelated: why is a young woman getting botox? And why is a young medical professional unsure if she’s got Botox side effects or Covid? Totally unrelated to the bizarre behaviour from her examiners, just something I was idly curious about.
The irony is that this is Newcastle University. (if you get it you get it. Gotta love a Geordie style night out, right? xD)
but in all seriousness, that dress is lovely and smart imo and the whole situation is some major bollocks.
Load More Replies...Not appropriate is correct. Any doctor or med student can clearly understand what this woman did. If you cannot then you're opinion is ignorant.
Wow, I have a dress very similar to that one. I wore it for my graduation and for funerals, but apparently it's incredibly inappropriate!
Any form of "formal attire" when working labs or clinics is abjectly STUPID. The suit and tie "professional look" - just a way of ensuring that you are drinking the kool-aid. Men have to follow BS rules in many industries that are just as ridiculous as this crap. Frankly, when I see a suit, I trust them LESS than I would someone in comfortable, appropriate attire - ie scrubs in medicine, coveralls on a mechanic, apron on a chef etc. A Tie is the symbol of a slave
Whaaat?? In my place that is the very attire doctor usually use.. I think that my community dominantly moslem the our clothing custom is more rigid.. Or may be you can move here where people more relaxed on such thing..
Why not? That dress is boring and professional in the extreme!
Load More Replies...Thats just what they did??? DIDNT you see the tweets made by the university in response?? Or are you looking for something to bitch about
Load More Replies...How was that bending the rules? How was that dress inappropriate in any way? The only people agreeing with the examiner are fellow masochists. Imagine thinking dress codes are set in stone.
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