B A B B LIN G S
The Sekhmet Writing Project O N E | T W E LV E : T H E I N N O VAT O R S Wri t t en by D r. M ega n Fro st B a bb
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itting atop a window sill in my bedroom is an Egyptian statue which stands about 3” tall. Sitting below it is my unadorned leather chair which has been the absorber of many stressful days. My children refer to it as the sulking chair. To me it is simply a quiet place for pause and reflection when the day has been hard. The statue in arm’s reach is a miniature version of Sekhmet, an Egyptian goddess. Her head is that of a lion with a sun disk resting atop it. To the common on-looker she is odd, but to me she is exquisite. Sekhmet is one of the oldest of Egyptian deities. She is the goddess of women empowerment. She is the strength in all women, allowing even the 1 2 | M AY / J U N E 2 0 2 0
most fearful to stand against injustice. She is the cornerstone of unbridled rage allowing even the most weak to fight against oppression. She is the source of our empathy, our courage, our capabilities. When we see ourselves in one another, it is her spirit we recognize. When we stand for one another, it is her presence we feel. Historically the practice of medicine has been male dominated. Although the tides are beginning to shift, many women still find themselves amid the center of an Old Boys Club where survival for them can sometimes mean betraying their own. While I was on a clinical rotation in my third year of medical school, I found myself at the center of one of these clubs.
I was assigned to work with a male surgical subspecialist who was wellknown by the student body as an attending to avoid. It didn’t take long for me to understand why. The way his eyes moved up and down my body while his top teeth bit into the corner of his bottom lip did nothing more than send a wave of disgust through me. Within a matter of days I developed a deep seated resentment towards him for distracting me in such a way that removed any meaningful opportunity to learn. Even worse, an opportunity my tuition dollars were paying for. Instead of learning, I would spend the majority of the time inching myself away from him as he inched towards me. Pulling my hand out from under his when he
