It's all about the empathy.
As I've said earlier, I strongly prefer women doctors because I feel they have more empathy, particularly for problems that affect only women. Show me a male gynecologist who's ever had a menstrual cramp, let alone given birth.
However, not all women have this empathy, and not all men don't have it. Example (warning: TMI ahead): I used to have the cramps from hell (no longer - praise be to the pill!
) One afternoon when I was 13, my mother picked me up from school and told me she had to run some errands before we went home. I told her that I had bad cramps and really needed to take some Advil and lie down. She said, "It's normal" and refused to take me home. Twenty minutes later I was throwing up in the middle of Macy's.
Did I mention that my mother is a doctor? And that she specialized in pain management?
Yeah... I haven't forgiven her for that one.