Blanche should have become a doctor. It was her dream, until an intern stood in her way, one day of internship, when she was starting her medical studies, after winning the competitive exam. She was then 21 years old. He must explain the basic procedures for medical examinations. Instead of simply showing her what to do, he takes the opportunity to press himself against her, touch her, rub her. He whispers “naughty”, “you’re cute”. Blanche speaks openly about her attack in Not so white blouses, a documentary which is due to be broadcast on May 5 on M6. From parties where hazing persists to guard rooms whose frescoes show department heads distributing blowjobs, including rape cases, directors Grégoire Huet and Marie Portolano tell the story of the extent of sexism. From hospitals to hospitals, from duty rooms to operating theaters.
The documentary appears in the middle of “#MeToo of hospitals”, a series of denunciations of attacks on women triggered by infectious disease specialist Karine Lacombe. Last week, she confided to Paris Match having been harassed by Patrick Pelloux, a colleague appreciated in high circles, close to President François Hollande. Since then, testimonies about the hospital system, which for a long time had few women and whose management was run by men, have flooded the public debate.
Ambient misogyny
Like Blanche, many other caregivers say they are “disgusted” with the profession because of the prevailing misogyny. This is what Agnès Buzyn says in particular. In 2017, then Minister of Health, the former doctor made her harassment public, in the wake of the Weinstein affair. If the hospital is not the cinema, “many women do not want to make a career there” because of what happens there, she analyzes for L’Express.
Agnès Buzyn therefore preferred to leave. Leave rather than endure these colleagues who imagine him with a “whip and boots”. Who order her to “sit on their knees”, angry at the idea of her being their leader. Who consider it as a hindrance, despite known and recognized skills. “We had to laugh about it, otherwise we were screwed. But it disgusted me, I went to eat with the patients in the cafeteria,” says the former minister of Emmanuel Macron, still devastated.
Agnès Buzyn, like the other doctors and nurses who testify today, speaks of a “universe focused on sex”, of an “ambient sexism”, “unbearable”, which makes careers much harsher than those of men . On screen, Marie Portolano, at the origin of the revelations about sports journalist Pierre Ménès, cites an Ipsos barometer published in 2023: “8 out of 10 female doctors say they have been victims of sexist behavior, 1 out of 3 of inappropriate gestures. “
“Liberation of listening”
The journalist received hundreds of emails following her first documentary, on sexism in sport, asking her to look into the situation at the hospital. “Everything was before our eyes, like in the cinema. Perhaps we should speak of the liberation of listening, rather than of speaking. Because everything happens as if suddenly, we finally took note of what tell the victims”, observes Marie Portolano, marked by the minimization of the facts. “It’s not very serious,” the accused kept telling him.
How many of them, like Blanche or Agnès Buzyn, have hung up their blouses, traumatized? “These systematic attacks contribute to the arduousness of the work,” underlines Pauline Bourdin, president of the Federation of Nursing Students, the main association representing the profession. A weight, while the long hours, the horrors of emergencies and the low remuneration, especially at the bottom of the scale, already dissuade people from getting involved in this public service which has been experiencing a labor shortage for years.
The association carried out a study, for its part: “59.2% of nursing students have already thought about stopping their training. The first reason for stopping training is due to the internship sites. However , 1 in 6 students were victims of sexual assault during their training, the calculation is quickly done”, explains Pauline Bourdin. Especially since men in hierarchical positions tend, she says, to ignore alerts. “We should get used to it, understand, when we are talking about acts punishable by law!”
Condemning “gaps”, the current Minister of Health, Frédéric Valletoux, announced on April 12 that he would meet with the main representatives of the hospital system on the subject, while a plan to combat sexist and sexual violence as a whole has already been put in place. Exchanges should begin on April 29, according to our information. Pauline Bourdin warns: “We are waiting for new, more concrete solutions, and above all, zero tolerance.”
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