Offensive website content

Hi Dr. Bakker.

I recently went to http://www.yeastinfection.org/ and took the quiz. The resulting diagnosis was a little disturbing.

Being a female, one of the resulting personal suggestions for me was to avoid sexual activity. This information is fine, but the way it was presented was absolutely, positively OFFENSIVE and SEXIST.

I quote here: "If you have a vaginal yeast infection (which is very likely for most women) then avoid having sex with your boyfriend/husband for a while, as you can pass it along to him. Imagine your embarrassment then when he tells his friends he caught something from you. Penile yeast infection while not that known is still something men suffer from and it can be bothersome for them. They will experience jock itch and its horrible."


I was so offended by this, that I did the quiz again exactly the same way, but AS A MALE. The end result was simply: Avoid sexual activity during treatment.

So women are to feel shame ("imagine your embarrassment"), and feel empathy about the possible effects to a man ("jock itch is HORRIBLE"), but the reverse isn't an issue. No mention of any embarrassment for the man, or potential effects on a woman's well-being. What century is this? Did I somehow wake-up in the 1950's?

I am thoroughly disgusted. Tweet