As part of a student initiative, we are organising a public lecture series on the topic of gender-sensitive medicine in the winter semester 2025/26 in collaboration with the Kritische Mediziner:innen.

We are convinced that gender-sensitive medicine has so far received too little attention in medical training and practice. With our lecture series, we want to make current scientific findings visible, network interested parties and create spaces for exchange and discussion.

Thanks to the support of the Gender and Diversity Management of School VI, the Department for Human Medicine and the FemRef of the University of Oldenburg, as well as The Smart House Oldenburg, the equal opportunities department of the City of Oldenburg and the Marburger Bund Niedersachsen, we have been able to put together an exciting programme to which we would like to cordially invite you.

Please note: Continuing education points will be awarded for doctors.

Our lecture series is aimed in particular at students of medical degree programmes, teachers and medical professionals, but is open to all interested parties.
Following the lectures, there will be space for questions, discussions and an exchange of ideas over snacks and drinks.

You can also find the latest information and announcements on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/kritmeds.ol/

If you have any questions or suggestions, please do not hesitate to contact us:

We look forward to exciting lectures and discussions and would like to thank all our supporters!
The lecture series organisation team

Belana Attallah, Gesine Buurman, Merit Henkel, Ella Mönning

Programme:

25.02.2026, 17-19:00,The Smart House Oldenburg
Gender-sensitive medicine in medical studies - basics, perspectives and practical examples
Dr Laura Wortmann (doctor and researcher in the field of gender-sensitive medicine) (she/her)

The lecture will be broadcast online: https://meeting.uol.de/rooms/n38-pp5-tdb-9cv/join

Gender-sensitive medicine examines how gender affects health, illness and care and contributes to improving medical care for all genders. Nevertheless, it has so far been insufficiently integrated into medical training in Germany. The lecture will provide an overview of basic concepts, curricular approaches and practical examples from our own teaching at the OWL School of Medicine in Bielefeld. Dr Wortmann presents how gender sensitivity can be anchored as a central component of modern medical training and how it prepares students for a differentiated, patient-oriented practice.

---

Past events:

CANCELLED: 11.02.2026, 17-19:00, BIS Saal University of Oldenburg (Haarentor campus)
Transformative technologies: implementing intersectional justice into digital health
Dr Tereza Hendl (philosopher and bioethicist) (she/her)

28.01.2026, 17-19:00, BIS Saal University of Oldenburg (Haarentor campus)
Pain and Prejudice: Why pain is not gender-neutral
Stefanie Beinert (doctoral candidate and research associate in the Department of Health Economics) (she/her)

The lecture will be broadcast online: https://meeting.uol.de/rooms/coq-yek-qce-yke/join

In medical care, pain is still characterised by a bio-medical understanding of illness that only takes social and cultural factors into account to a limited extent. However, pain is deeply embedded in social, cultural and gender-specific contexts. Numerous studies show that women, (B)PoC, people with a migration background and trans*, inter* and non-binary people with pain are less likely to be taken seriously, receive diagnoses later and are more often psychosomatised or treated inadequately than cis-male patients. Pain is therefore not only a medical issue, but also one that is relevant to power and discrimination.
Why is pain more often interpreted as "emotional" by women? Why do men receive invasive diagnostics more quickly, while women are more likely to be prescribed tranquillisers? What role do gender norms, stereotypes and implicit prejudices play in everyday clinical practice? And how do these mechanisms affect diagnostics, chronic pain progression, treatment adherence and inequalities in care?
The lecture examines pain from a gender- and diversity-sensitive perspective and shows how structural assumptions and bias ("prejudice") systematically shape the perception, assessment and treatment of pain. The aim is to raise awareness of gender bias in pain medicine, classify central mechanisms and identify starting points for fairer, evidence-based and patient-centred pain care.

25.11.2025, 17-19:00, V03 0-C002 University of Oldenburg (Haarentor campus)
Care and needs of trans*, inter* and non-binary people in gynaecology and obstetrics
TaleoStüwe (doctor and medical speaker) (er/ihm)

Queer people are demonstrably less well cared for in the healthcare system than non-queer people. In particular, access to gender-specific medical services is still severely restricted for trans*, inter* and non-binary (TIN*) people. They encounter structural discrimination, but also insufficient knowledge and a lack of sensitivity among healthcare professionals.

Can trans* women breastfeed? What does a professional approach to the birth of an inter* baby look like? How can non-binary people be treated sensitively in gynaecological practice? What needs to change so that pregnant trans* men are well cared for?

The lecture will address these and other questions. The aim is to reduce uncertainties in dealing with TIN* people and to raise awareness of the current care situation and the needs of genderqueer patients. Terminology will be clarified and the significance of the healthcare system for the realities of TIN* people's lives will be highlighted. The focus is on the experiences, the care situation and the need for improvement of TIN* people in gynaecology and obstetrics.

05.11.2025, 17-19:00, BIS Saal University of Oldenburg (Haarentor campus)
Anatomy of the patriarchy - How textbooks marginalise female sexuality
A gender-critical perspective on the representation of female sexual anatomy and physiology in medical education

It is said that anatomy is a closed subject. For centuries, the human body has been cut open, dissected and drawn. Hardly any structure could have been overlooked. And yet there is one organ whose structure and function is conspicuously underrepresented and incorrectly depicted in medical textbooks: the bulbo-clitoral organ. How can this be explained? How else is the female external genitalia depicted? And how do current anatomical and physiological textbooks talk about gender, sexuality and normality? This is what we want to shed light on in this lecture, taking an interdisciplinary look at the history of science, philosophy, cultural studies and sexology.

After all, it is part of precise science to question where the knowledge taught comes from and what shapes it. As future doctors, it is ultimately also about the correct, i.e. informed, treatment of our patients.

Marianne Hamm (sex educator, sex and gender scientist) (she/he) and Lucia Christians (prospective doctor) (she/he)

---