Cum Joke Sparks Furor Among Surgeons
LatestA joke about semen in an editorial has plunged the American College of Surgeons into controversy and raised charges of institutionalized sexism.
According to a post by Dr. Pauline Chen on the Times Well blog, the offending editorial, by ACS president-elect Dr. Lazar J. Greenfield, discussed the possible mental health benefits of semen, closing with the line, “So there’s a deeper bond between men and women than St. Valentine would have suspected, and now we know there’s a better gift for that day than chocolates.” Presenting your jizz as a Valentine’s Day gift is pretty clearly a bad idea, as is suggesting it in your professional association’s official publication. In response to complaints, the paper pulled the article and asked Greenfield to resign as editor-in-chief. But this hasn’t resolved the issue for everyone — one female member of the ACS, Dr. Colleen Brophy, has resigned “not so much because of the editorial but because of the leadership’s response to it.” It’s not entirely clear what response she’s referring to, although ACS president L.D. Britt’s suggestion that women follow the example of the post-apartheid South African government and practice “reconciliation” may well have struck some people as strange.