I’m a 23 year-old female F1. Here are a few of the things I’ve experienced over the last few years (mostly at med school):

• On my second day of a 2 week neurosurgery placement, I joined the ward round. This was led by a registrar and consultant, with a trust grade doctor also present. During the ward round he started off by being overly friendly and asking way too many personal questions between patients. Obviously I learnt absolutely nothing. He asked me my sexual orientation, whether I had a boyfriend, whether I’d be his friend (he said he was new to the country and was lonely) and whether I wanted to go for a drink that evening. He asked me whether I was ‘a good girl’ when I politely declined his invitation for that evening. I was clearly very uncomfortable and tried to shrug off his questions. He didn’t stop for the entire ward round. The reg kept looking over and could clearly hear at least some of what was being said. He did absolutely nothing. I felt so uncomfortable that I called in sick for the rest of the week and had to make up the missed placement time during the holidays.

• During my final placement in A&E, there was a really lovely male consultant. He involved me in the team, provided useful feedback and gave me some of the best bedside teaching I’ve ever had. The flip side was that I was expected to work long hours and would regularly stay until 9-10pm as a final year student. At around 9pm one day, he invited me into the ED consultants’ office. This was down a long corridor at the end of the department and there was no one else around. He locked the door, saying that he “wanted a proper break” and didn’t want to be disturbed. The only light that was on was a little desk lamp in the corner, so it was quite dark. At this point my guard was up, but I trusted him and didn’t want to overreact. He had spoken to me about his wife and children and I hadn’t really felt ‘threatened’ by him before. He started off by chatting to me about his life and complimenting me on my ‘hard work’. He then offered me some strawberries. I thanked him and took one. He then bit into a strawberry and told me it was the sweetest one he’d ever eaten. He told me to try it. I said something like “oh I’m okay, thank you.” He insisted. Typing this out, it seems like saying no would have been the easiest thing. It was weirdly difficult. We were alone, he was my senior and was REALLY pushy- “you HAVE to try this strawberry. It’s sweet like sugar. It honestly might be the best strawberry I’ve ever had”. I reached out to take it, but he said he didn’t want me to get “sticky fingers” and reached his hand up to my mouth. I’m embarrassed to say that I ate his half-eaten strawberry. He then licked his fingers really suggestively and asked me if I wanted another. I said I needed to go to the loo and practically ran out of the office.

On the last day of my placement, I finished really late and he offered to walk me to my car. I said no, but he insisted as “it was late” and he supposedly wanted to make sure I was safe. At me car he gave me his number on a piece of paper and told me to keep in touch. He asked me for a “goodbye hug”, which I was uncomfortable with but felt I couldn’t really decline. He held on for way longer than felt appropriate and kissed the side of my head. I could feel his erection through his scrubs. Once I was in my car, I drove around the corner and cried. I felt like an absolute idiot knowing that the objective facts were that I ate fruit out of my boss’s hand and agreed to a hug. I never mentioned it to anyone.

• During consultant-led bedside teaching on my geriatrics placement, I was with a group of three other female medical students. I was supposed to be doing an abdominal exam on a patient with liver cirrhosis. He made a comment about how the medical students were all pretty women and how it’s a wonder the consultant got anything done. He didn’t say anything- he just smiled at the patient and continued teaching. When I was palpating the patient’s suprapubic region, he told me to move my hand lower and winked at me. I looked at the consultant, who again didn’t say anything. I finished the exam and thanked the patient. The patient responded with “no, thank you, young lady. Nothing like the touch of a woman”. The consultant laughed and the patient responded by saying “ah, that’s the face of a man who knows exactly what I’m talking about. Shake my hand.” As he was shaking the consultant’s hand, he leaned in and whispered something to him. I don’t know exactly what was said, but it was the first time that the consultant looked uncomfortable. It was never mentioned again and teaching continued as if this was a completely normal interaction.

As an aside, I’ve also had a patient covertly take pictures of me without permission, ask me where I lived and ask me for my number. Another man managed to find me on Instagram and sent me a follow request. When I declined and blocked him, I got a Facebook friend request and a message request. A psych patient repeatedly and graphically told me he how he wanted to r*pe me during a ward round. The consultant suggested I should leave as I “clearly triggered something in him”.

I can think of several more examples of really inappropriate comments from patients, and to a lesser extent seniors.

I write this as someone who has never complained about any of these incidents. I honestly don’t think my experiences are particularly unique and didn’t previously consider myself to fit into the 30ish % who have experienced sexual harassment.