Surgeon resigns after backlash from 'semen' editorial

A controversial editorial in the official newspaper of the American College of Surgeons has sparked a debate about possible gender and sexuality biases within the organization and the field of surgery.

According to a post by Dr. Pauline Chen in the New York Times Well blog, the offending article, written by the American College of Surgeons president-elect and editor in chief, Dr. Lazar Greenfield, discusses the possible mental health benefits of semen for women who have unprotected sex.

The article was published in the February issue of the newspaper, which must be why Dr. Greenfield decided to close his piece with this lyrical gem: "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."

In response to complaints about the editorial, titled "Gut Feelings", the entire issue of the newspaper was withdrawn and Dr. Greenfield was asked to step down from his position as editor-in-chief. Criticisms continued and Dr. Greenfield also resigned from his position as president-elect on Sunday, the New York Times reported.

Dr. Lazar Greenfield

In an e-mail to the Detroit Free Press, Dr. Greenfield defended his article and his reputation as an advocate for women in surgery.

"The editorial was an opinion-piece written for a throw-away newspaper," he said, "I extended sincere apologies and resigned as editor in chief of the paper."

He continues, "That was not sufficient for some women who convinced the leadership that I was unsuited for the presidency to which I had been elected."

The debate over whether Dr. Greenfield's article was intended as a light-hearted joke-y piece or a subtle form of sexism could be tedious and everlasting.

My own "gut feeling" is that Dr. Greenfield's record of mentoring and advocating for women in surgery should not be overlooked because of one tasteless article. 

I also think that someone who is both the president-elect of the largest professional organization of surgeons in the country and the editor in chief of the organization's newspaper should be exponentially more cautious about the "jokes" he attempts to defend with research and then decides to publish.

But it seems like the backlash is less about the article and more about the bigger problems facing women in the field.

According to Chen's post, women only make up 10 percent of the members of the American  College of Surgeons and only five out of the 22-member governing board are women. Less than a third of women who enter medical school go into surgery, partly because of perceived male bias.

"Once in practice, studies have shown, well over half of all women surgeons report feeling demeaned, and nearly a third say they have been the objects of inappropriate sexist remarks or advances," Chen wrote.

Women in America, the White House's report on the status of women, showed that one of the reasons women still earn less than men overall is because women are still concentrated in lower-paying, "traditionally female" occupations.

As long as women are deterred by the negative attitudes and male bias in higher-paying, "traditionally male" occupations, like surgery, they will likely remain in those lower-paying jobs.

Hopefully this controversy has brought some of these issues to light in the organization and the profession.