A Mission Of Her Own

In 20 years as an obstetrician and gynecologist, Dr. Hilda Hutcherson has helped poor women and very wealthy women. What they all have in common, she says, is a basic dissatisfaction with their bodies. Her mission is to change that. She's a professor of clinical obstetrics and gynecology, and an associate dean at Columbia University's medical school, a magazine columnist and the author of three books. She spoke to NEWSWEEK's Barbara Kantrowitz.

What drew you to medicine?
I grew up in a small town in Alabama, and I had never seen a female doctor. My mother wanted to be a nurse and my father wanted to be a doctor, but neither could go to college because they were poor. I'm living their dream. They were never able to do this because they grew up poor in Alabama at the wrong time.

Outside of your own family, you didn't receive much encouragement.
One of my teachers said to me, "You have three strikes against you. You're poor, you're black and you're female. You're not going to become a doctor." When I told my high-school guidance counselor I wanted to apply to a topnotch school, she discouraged me because she said that I would just return home a failure and be an embarrassment to my parents. I said, "Forget you. I am going to do what I want to do because my parents told me I can be anything that I want to be."

You went to Stanford University and Harvard Medical School. Did you ever go back to the guidance counselor?
When I finished medical school, I went back to talk to the kids. I told them that if I did it, they could, too, and they shouldn't let people discourage them.

How did you choose women's health?
My first pelvic exam was horrendous. It was painful. I felt that I was treated like a specimen and not like a human being. I avoided going back to the gynecologist for years after that. I thought I could do better. I didn't want other women to have to go through what I went through, which is why I am teaching medical students.

What led you to specialize in sex?
On my first day as a gynecologist after I finished my residency, a woman said to me, "I have always wanted to ask somebody this and I feel comfortable with you. Is it safe to have anal sex?" And I'm, like, "I don't know. That's illegal in Alabama!" I found that most of my patients felt uncomfortable with their sexuality. They needed to know more and they didn't know where to get the information. I wanted to help them.