Obscene OB-GYN

I can't put my finger on it, but something about this behavior really stinks.

"Okay, Mrs. Robertson, now let's take a look! ...Eww, it looks like a sad old man!"

— Gynecologist, Family Guy

Sometimes, being Afraid of Doctors is portrayed as irrational.

Of course, if a character has genitals, and they need to get them examined for any reason at all, one recurring concern is that the specialist is a pervert, sexual deviant, or otherwise disrespectful of the sexual/reproductive autonomy of their patients, especially if the practitioner is male.

Whether the procedures involve anesthesia, Medical Rape and Impregnation, violation of an orifice, inserting suppositories or thermometers, telling the patient to turn and cough, a Creepy Physical, or any other form of medical malpractice, there is something especially horrifying about the prospect of a patient, regardless of gender, being molested or otherwise abused by someone who is supposed to be a trusted medical professional, especially when people's genitalia are involved, which is why the Obscene OB-GYN (which include obstetricians, gynecologists, urologists, and proctologists) are so reviled and feared.

Unfortunately, while reproductive and genital health professionals are supposed to have ethics just like other medical professionals, there have been known to be some practitioners in both fiction and real life who have abused their positions for their own gratification. However, any real-life examples on this page will be considered malpractice.

May overlap with Villain with Good Publicity if they hide under a reputation as a respected medical professional to stifle any accusations of impropriety against them.

See also Glove Snap and Turn Your Head and Cough, which may occur in more humorous examples, along with Black Comedy Rape.

Compare and contrast the Depraved Dentist, when dental professionals are portrayed as sadistic or creepy; Mad Doctor, when physicians and surgeons are portrayed as throwing medical ethics out the window; Psycho Psychologist, when a mental health professional is portrayed as exploiting the psychiatric vulnerabilities of their patients; and Morally Ambiguous Doctorate, when other shady characters have "Doctor" as part of their title. Compare Back-Alley Doctor, when a medical practitioner has no license, and Orderlies are Creeps, when it's a physician's underlings who are disturbing.

Not to be confused with Dr. Jerk, which mostly applies when a medical practitioner is a "Jerk" in the metaphorical sense, as opposed to physical (pardon the pun).

In terms of non-medical personnel who abuse their position to perpetrate sexual abuse, compare Pedophile Priest when members of the clergy molest children; Dirty Old Monk, when clerics are perverts in general; Creepy Gym Coach, when a physical activity instructor preys on children; and Depraved Kids' Show Host, when a children's entertainer acts in a manner unbecoming of their target demographic.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Oshi no Ko: Obstetrician Dr. Goro Amamiya is accused of being a pervert by a nurse due to his infatuation with the teenage idol singer Ai Hoshino.

Comic Books

• Played with in the Eightball short "Gynecology", where local gynecologist Martin Ten Boom is assumed to be some sort of degenerate because of his profession, and his wife uses this as an excuse to cheat on him with protagonist Epps, but the only indication that he might be up to something is his taking photos of a celebrity's vagina, which may have been diagnostic for a venereal disease. At any rate, he ends up ruined when Epps steals the photos from his office and sells them to the editor of a pornographic magazine, which results in Dr. Ten Boom getting sued and settling out of court.

Films — Live-Action

• Animal House: The "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue reveals that serial womanizer Otter goes on to become a gynecologist in Beverly Hills. A follow-up Mockumentary included on the film's 25th anniversary DVD confirms he uses his position to sleep with patients.
• The Cannonball Run: To complete their guise as a medical crew transporting a patient cross-country, Victor fetches a "doctor," played by Jack Elam. Doctor Helsing is clearly a disheveled weirdo, and his training is in veterinary medicine, specializing in bovine rectal prolapses. He's nobody a sane person would want as their personal physician.
• Dead Ringers: Elliot and Beverly are a pair of identical twin gynecologists who already switch places during sex and with the more charismatic Elliot's girlfriends. When Beverly's first real relationship (that he didn't want to share) breaks down, he starts abusing drugs and performing completely unnecessary operations on what he delusionally believes to be "mutant genitalia". When Beverly loses his licence, Elliot's sanity also takes a huge hit.
• The Debt: Dr. Vogel was a Nazi gynecologist who performed hideous experiments on Auschwitz inmates.
• False Positive: Dr. John Hindle has abused his position as an OB-GYN to artificially inseminate several of his patients with his own DNA, including Lucy Martin, the protagonist.
• The Hand That Rocks the Cradle: Dr. Victor Mott molested multiple obstetrics patients, including Claire Bartel, before committing suicide, resulting in his widow having a miscarriage.
• In Kindergarten Cop, there's a child whose gimmick is to candidly recite a routine about basic sex education, who later turns out to be a gynaecologist's son. The implied joke is that the father is pretty open about the topic.
• Knocked Up: Downplayed with the gynecologist who confirms Allison's pregnancy, who was recommended by her sister. He's not a pervert per se, but he does joke about Ben taking his turn next, and makes pretty much the most uncomfortable remark possible when Allison gets in the stirrups:
  Dr. Pellagrino: (looking under Allison's gown) Wow, you do look like your sister.
• In Mad Max: Fury Road, gynecology is shown to be one of the Organic Mechanic's "specialties" when he performs a post-mortem C-section on Splendid Angharad, taking way too much pleasure in the operation.
• Zigzagged in Maybe Baby; the gynecologist played by Rowan Atkinson is more of a Cloudcuckoolander than a pervert, but the student he has "observing" his work openly gawks at his patient when she's in the stirrups.
• In one of Revenge of the Nerds sequels, one of the nerds of the first film is revealed to have become a gynaecologist. He declares this in a wink-wink-nod-nod way that makes his covert perversion pretty obvious.
• Teeth: Dawn's gynecologist molests her during a physical examination, resulting in four of his fingers being bitten off by her Vagina Dentata.

Jokes

• Old joke: A man goes to the doctor and is prescribed a week of suppositories, the first of which is administered by the doctor. The next day, the man asks his wife for help, and she puts a hand on his shoulder to keep her balance as she inserts it. Suddenly the husband starts yelling "That bastard! He had both hands on my shoulders!"
• A beautiful young woman goes to the gynecologist, and the doctor is immediately overcome with desire for her. He begins caressing her skin and asks, "Do you know what I'm doing?" She replies, "Yes, you're checking my skin for rashes, etc." He begins feeling up her boobs and asks "Do you know what I'm doing now?" She nonchalantly replies, "Yes, you're checking my breasts for lumps." Overcome with lust, he climbs up on the table and enters her, saying "Do you know what I'm doing... now?" She looks him in the eyes and says "Yes, getting herpes."

Literature

• Coma has a secondary gynaecologist character. While he's lacking any major character flaws (beyond being a bit of a boor and a ham), he's not above cracking jokes about the state of the patient's nethers to his anaesthesiologist partner.
• Downplayed and played with in The Handmaid's Tale. Offred attends a doctor who checks out the Handmaids for fertility issues; it isn't clear if he does anything else, but they don't prioritize female health beyond fertility in Gilead. The doctor warns her that some Commanders are infertile and offers to "help her" by having sex with her. Offred is unnerved, even more so because he's correct — if the Commander is infertile, it will presumably doom Offred to the Colonies — but she rejects him because she isn't sure if he's an Eye checking up on her fidelity.
• Rosemary's Baby: In both the book and film:
  • Dr. Abe Saperstein is Rosemary's doctor, who does nothing about her agonizing pain throughout her pregnancy, doesn't answer her worries, and stops her from reading books. He's also ultimately revealed to be in on the conspiracy to let Satan rape Rosemary and impregnate her with Satan's son and is The Heavy in getting Rosemary back to the apartment building to give birth. He also lies to her and tells her that her baby died.
  • Zigzagged by Dr. Hill, Rosemary's preferred doctor. He's very nice and courteous and does a much better job of reassuring Rosemary. However, he ultimately doesn't believe her and delivers her back to Saperstein and her husband Guy.
• In A Song of Ice and Fire, it's suggested that the elderly Maester Pycelle might be a sexual abuser given a scene where he performs a physical on Sansa Stark and the narration refers to him "touching her all over". He's later shown to be having sex with a fairly young servant girl.

Live-Action TV

• In American Horror Story: Delicate, something is off about Anna's fertility specialist, Dr. Hill, between the condescending way he talks to her and the way he keeps having side conversations with her husband about her even when she's standing right in front of them.
• Big Love: JJ, Nicki's creepy ex-husband, serves as an obstetrician for the UEB compound. Bill investigates reports of inbred babies being born at the compound but finds the marriage records show no incestuous marriages. The horrifying truth is that JJ has been implanting eggs into their own genetic lines (sometimes adding his own sperm) in the name of "purity." He nearly succeeds in impregnating Nicki with her own daughter's egg until an enraged Adaleen stabs him and leaves him to die in his house as she burns it down.
• Bones: Played with in "The Rocker in the Rinse Cycle". Camille takes her teenage adopted daughter Michelle to gynecologist Dr. Paul Lidner, who is perfectly professional with her. However, Camille and Paul become attracted and start dating, which understandably weirds Michelle out enough that they agree to find her a different gynecologist — and she specifically requests the next one be a woman.
• In the first-season finale of Family Law (2021), the firm takes on their receptionist Nina as a client after finding out that the man she thought was her father is not genetically related to her — her mom's fertility specialist used his own sperm to fertilize her eggs. It turns out that she wasn't his only victim, and thus the firm sues him for everything he's worth.
• FBI: Most Wanted, "Bad Seed": Dr. Gregory Scanlon is the narcissistic head of a fertility clinic. Scanlon is an egomaniac who has been committing fertility fraud for decades by using his own sperm for recipients. The result is that two of his children, Miles and Savannah Maddox, became husband and wife without knowing their connection and he's spread Lupus to all of his children.
• In Game of Thrones, there's a scene where Cersei Lannister gets an odd Pet the Dog moment, in which she recommends Mad Doctor Maester Qyburn as a gynecologist over Maester Pycelle, and there's a very strong implication that the recommendation has to do with avoiding a Creepy Physical.
• The Handmaid's Tale: A gynecologist asks Serena out on a date in the middle of a prenatal exam, an action which unsettles her.
• How I Met Your Mother: Zig-Zagged for laughs in "Bad News". Lily and Marshall decide to visit a new gynecologist when Lily is struggling to get pregnant, only to find her new doctor is a doppelgänger of their friend Barney, The Casanova of the group who has pulled convoluted stunts to get women naked before. While the gang have run into doppelgängers of themselves before, Lily won't let Dr. Stangel examine her until she can be sure he isn't Barney trying to get a peek at her naked. Downplayed, since Dr. Stangel behaves very professionally — Lily only distrusts him because he looks like Barney. Ultimately averted — Marshall gets Dr. Stangel and Barney in the same room together in front of Lily, proving Dr. Stangel is who he says he is.
• I Am the Night: George Hodel is a gynecologist who raped his own daughter and is portrayed as Elizabeth Short's likely killer, though he doesn't face prison.
• Law & Order universe:
  • Original Series:
    • "Helpless": Dr. Alexander J. Merritt has sexually abused several of his obstetrics and gynecology patients, including Dr. Elizabeth Olivet. Fifty-four survivors of his abuse come forward after he makes a public statement claiming he helps his patients and doesn't hurt them.
    • "Seed": Fertility specialist Doctor Gilbert (later edited to Delbert) claims that one of his patients had recently miscarried, and needed to return to a costly hormone regimen. The medical examiner states, "This lady was never pregnant," leading to further investigation of the doctor. Detectives find Gilbert has been seeding his patients with his own semen, identifiable by his cystic fibrosis carrier gene.
  • Law & Order: UK: The episode "Alesha" is an adaptation of the original series' "Helpless". Alesha is molested and ultimately raped by Alec Merrick, who is a highly respected gynaecologist. He also has many victims, raping and abusing his patients (especially those who were already vulnerable), performing gruesome procedures without sedation, and leaving many of them deeply traumatized.
  • Law & Order: Special Victims Unit:
    • Dr. Max Kleberg in "Tangled" is a urologist who ran a controversial study on impotency. It was supposed to cure impotency, but actually caused dangerous side effects that Max didn't warn them about, leading one participant to commit Attempted Rape. Max was also an even worse asshole, chasing young women and eventually entering a whirlwind romance with a receptionist, Lara Todd. He then arranged to have his wife raped and murdered during a botched home invasion in order to take the money back that he'd given to her in order to hide it from the lawsuits that he risked.
    • In "Perfect", Dr. Garret Lang is a hormone and genetic therapy specialist who secretly leads a breeding cult of underage girls whose offspring he sells to fund his research.
    • "Lead" starts off with the murder of Dr. Gilbert Keppler, a pedophiliac urologist who used the guise of procedures to molest his young patients.
• Mad Men has a gynecologist berate and slut shame Peggy Olsen for requesting birth control when she's unmarried, an encounter that takes place early in the series and helps set the tone of the setting as a non-whitewashed version of The '60s.
• Double Subverted in Masters of Sex. Dr. William Masters is an obstetrician who pays local prostitutes to let him watch them having sex with clients, but it's because he wants to make a legitimate academic study of the biology of sex and, it being The '50s, getting a research grant for it is difficult at best. However, once he actually is able to begin a formal research project, he becomes attracted to his assistant, med student Virginia Johnson, and talks her into taking part in the study with him as an excuse to start an extramarital affair with her. She eventually realizes this and quits late in the first season.

Video Games

• In Fallout 2, having sex with Miria or Davin will cause their father Grisham (or if he's dead, his brother Biff) to catch you two in the act and subsequently force you into a Shotgun Wedding with the progeny, unless the player character can play it off as a "medical examination".

Visual Novels

• Baby Bump: Dr. Mariana Castillo is distracted by lustful thoughts towards Clint Covington while she does a checkup on Jen.
• Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Justice For All: Dr. Hotti, the director of the Hotti Clinic, is a disgusting old man who leers at female patients as young as Pearl and is openly eager to "examine" them. Subverted when it turns out "Dr. Hotti" is really a wayward patient wearing doctor's clothes.

Webcomics

• Misfile: Downplayed with Dr. Edward Upton, Ash's father. He's a gynecologist who memorizes women's vaginas and will describe them readily to anyone nearby but is apparently good enough at his job to maintain it and seems to keep his Dirty Old Man tendencies separate from his work.

Western Animation

• Family Guy:
  • One episode has Peter visit a gynecologist and he asks to see some vaginas. The gynecologist lets him without question.
  • In "Wasted Talent", Lois goes in for a standard check-up, only to find her piano rival Alexis also being examined. Just before the check-up finishes, Alexis' gynecologist does something to her that makes her shout "Fred, this is not a date!"
  • The idea of a pervert proctologist is invoked in "Stewie Loves Lois". Dr. Hartman gives Peter a prostate exam and the latter mistakes this for an act of sexual harassment even though that's simply how it works.
• Moral Orel: In "Numb", Bloberta is so desperate for affection that she uses power tools on her privates to seduce Dr. Potterswheel, the physician/quack gynecologist, based on his gore fetish.

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