Intense backlash follows now-retracted paper on surgeons’ ‘unprofessional’ social posts

More than 10,000 tweets have expressed outrage over the publication last week of “Prevalence of unprofessional social media content among young vascular surgeons” in the Journal of Vascular Surgery. The study’s authors combed through Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter profiles of trainees in the specialty, reporting “inappropriate attire” in photos of “underwear, provocative Halloween costumes, and provocative posing in bikinis/swimwear.” Soon a tsunami of tweets followed, showing doctors in bathing suits under the hashtag #medbikini and accusing the authors of misogyny. By Friday, the journal issued a retraction and an apology. Scathing tweets are still piling up, few of which show surprise over the mindset behind the paper.