A visit to the gynecologist’s office can already be an anxiety-inducing ordeal for most people with uteruses, but a TikToker’s viral video shows her gynecologist’s attempt at making the experience “more relaxing.” User Kelsey (@smelseylol) shared her medical visit where she exposed the ceiling inside her doctor’s office.
@smelseylol leme knooooooo
♬ Coconut Mall (From “Mario Kart Wii”) – Arcade Player
“At the gyny [sic] office and he has photos of handsome men taped to the ceiling above the exam table,” the overlay text reads. “Is that weird cause it feels weird.”
Kelsey then pans the camera to the ceiling which has three taped photos of men. At least one of them seems to be Grey’s Anatomy actor Jesse Williams.
Kelsey posted the TikTok on May 14, and it has amassed more than 640,000 views. The video’s comments section was divided on whether the photos caused discomfort or were funny.
“I don’t think the gyno any harm and thought it was a light-hearted joke that would make women giggle and maybe feel more comfy,” one user wrote.
“My most generous reading of this is that they’re trying to give you something nice to look at while you’re having an objectively unpleasant experience,” another said.
Others thought the choice to stick those photos was sexualizing patients and perhaps even predatory.
“It feels kinda predatory to me ngl. Like they want to turn you on, instead of doing their job,” one viewer replied.
“I don’t get the intention. This implies that a visit to the gyno is a sexually exciting experience instead of awkward, painful, and medical,” one comment with more than 18,000 likes read.
“I still don’t like it even if they weren’t trying to sexualize the exam bc why would I want to look at a man in a time of distress,” another user wrote.
Other viewers pointed out the tone-deafness in assuming all women were into men.
“Like not everyone is heterosexual and also it shouldn’t be a pleasurable experience as in connected to those photos it’s literally a medical purpose,” one commented.
Some explained the doctor’s actions may have been with good intentions in order to relax the patients. When others stated the photos were the furthest thing from relaxing, some viewers replied they could simply “close their eyes” if they were uncomfortable.
One user urged Kelsey to find another gynecologist ASAP, to which the TikToker replied, “Oh I promise I won’t go back!”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Kelsey via TikTok comment for this story.