“Confession: I’m a veterinary student and I wear a bikini.”

This is how @BecomingDogtorNia, a first year student, started her post on Instagram. Nia’s post responds to a wildly contested – and now retracted – study on professionalism in social media posts.

Published in the Journal of Vascular Surgery, the study essentially determined wearing a bikini on Instagram is unprofessional. Adding to the cringe factor is that the majority of authors were male. (Yes, girl. We’re serious. Read the “study” here.)

Instagram and Twitter exploded with posts from women in medicine wearing their bikini with the tag #MedBikini.

Well, girl. We believe in the #Vetkini. It’s the same idea, except with dog fur on top.

We believe womxn in veterinary medicine can wear a bikini and be a successful professional. (Omg are we really having to write this in 2020?)

Without further delay, here are five women in vet med professional proving our point. Read their captions to hear their thoughts on the situation.

1. @BecomingDogtorNia 

 

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Confession: I’m a veterinary student and I wear bikinis. No, it doesn’t make me unprofessional. It makes me human … just like everyone else. ⠀ ⠀ As medical professionals, we work our butts off every day to save the lives of others. In the little free time that we have, we deserve to relax in a bikini without getting criticized for it. ⠀ ⠀ So yes, I’m wearing a bikini and I’m going to continue to wear my bikinis. I can save lives and look good doing it! And I dare someone to question my ability to be a doctor because of that. ⠀ ⠀ Thanks for coming to my TED Talk. ⠀ #MedBikini

A post shared by Nia | Vet Medicine 💉 (@becomingdogtornia) on Jul 25, 2020 at 10:11am PDT

2. @DogtorSoph

 

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Did you know that besides being a veterinary professional, a soon to be doctor, I’m actually also a human?! And I love the pool & wear bikinis?! 😱 For those of you who may not have heard, a group of male doctors (somehow) published a clinical study on the “Prevalence of unprofessional social media content among young vascular surgeons”. (Link in my bio if you don’t believe me). Basically, they just reminded the world that sexism and misogyny is still very much prevalent in medicine. Odd timing that one of our “own” – Rep. Ted Yoho – a veterinarian thinks this is okay too. Disgusting. I would really like to know how wearing a bathing suit makes me any less of a professional. FUN FACT: IT DOESNT. I work hard. I’m smart. I’m proud of my body. I’m dedicated. I’m compassionate. I’m successful. I’m a veterinary student, a professional, a soon to be doctor, but I’m also a human, and bikini or not, you better believe I’ll save your dogs life when you need me. Wear the damn bikini & show it off. Slay, queens. We support you 👏🏽💥🔥👑

A post shared by Sophie Chavez (@dogtorsoph) on Jul 24, 2020 at 6:52pm PDT

3. @Disabled.DVM

 

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my reaction when a group of misogynistic male vascular surgeons say it would be “unprofessional” of me to post a picture of myself enjoying a day on the lake with my favorite doggo 😒🙄 🤚🏼 This picture was originally going to be used to talk about water/boat safety for dogs but now Kristar and I are here to say it’s 2020 and womxn can DO and BE BOTH. My profession is PART of who I am, but I am not my profession. I am a (future) veterinarian. I am a daughter. I am a sister. I am a person with disabilities. I am a woman. I live in this body, and sometimes I dress it in a bikini. That doesn’t mean I am any less professional/intelligent. Period. I stand with female vascular surgeons, today and everyday. • • • • #medbikini #bikinimed #medkini #womenempowerment #standupagainstsexism #sexism #istandwithwomen #vet #veterinarymedicine #veterinarian #vetstudent #veterinarystudent #vetstudentlife #chronicillness #disabled #disability #disabilityawareness #chronicillnesswarrior #chronicillnessawareness #veterinarylife #vetlife #vetmed #womeninmedicine #womeninvetmed #womensupportingwomen

A post shared by 𝕛𝕖𝕤𝕤𝕚𝕔𝕒 𝕙𝕚𝕣𝕤𝕔𝕙 | 𝕧𝕖𝕥 𝕤𝕥𝕦𝕕𝕖𝕟𝕥 ☤ (@disabled.dvm) on Jul 25, 2020 at 9:53am PDT

4. @DogtorKristi

 

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I’m a doctor and I wear a bikini 😱#bikinimed I’m standing in solidarity with my fellow physicians in the vascular surgery world that were disrespected and shamed by their “colleagues”. I am proud to see all the woman standing together to drown out sexism in medicine. The fact that these men decided this would be the “research” they conduct obviously have some bigger issues in their careers IMO. Shame on every single human that took part in this garbage and allowed it to be published. For any of you that have not read this, please swipe to roll your eyes 👉🏽 Drop your 👙 below if you stand with women in medicine 👇🏽 so proud of everything I’m seeing in my feed right now. Now looking forward to my day off tomorrow at the pool so I can go be “unprofessional” all day 🙄💁🏻‍♀️ 🍹 PS— rep yoho is an embarrassment to the vet med profession 🤢🤮 @avmavets

A post shared by Kristi | Vet Medicine ⚕ (@dogtorkristi) on Jul 24, 2020 at 7:54pm PDT

5. @Dr.Kasia.Anderson

 

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Newsflash: It’s 2020. There is no place for sexism in the medical field or anywhere for that matter. Period. 🙄 Apparently, the Journal of Vascular Surgery was confused on this and tried shaming their female colleagues for their social media posts in a ‘study’ that has since been retracted. 🤦‍♀️ Let me tell you something…. I am a doctor. I am a boss. I am a mother. 👩🏼‍⚕️👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 I do a DAMN good job at all my roles. 👏 Posting a picture of myself in a swimsuit doesn’t take away from that or make me incompetent. On the contrary, it shows that I value my time away from the hospital and believe in work-life balance. 🙌 I will continue to teach my daughter to be a strong and confident woman. I will continue to teach my son to always respect women. I hope others will do the same with their children for the sake of our future generations. 🙏 End sexism NOW!! #medbikini

A post shared by Kasia Wawronowicz-Anderson (@dr.kasia.anderson) on Jul 25, 2020 at 2:18pm PDT

How would YOU define professionalism, girl?

We’d love to hear from you on Instagram. We’re sharing more examples of bold women over there too! Or if you have a lot of thoughts, maybe it’s time for you to contribute a blog.