Gay male nurse stereotype?

Nursing Students Male Students

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So, a question has arisen in my mind since I have been in CNA class waiting for nursing school to start.

There are only 2 guys in my class of 25, and the other guy is married and I'm gay. After doing clinicals in the hospital, I have yet to see another gay male CNA or nurse.

Where does this stereotype come from? I am not seeing it at all.

Specializes in Telemetry/Med Surg.
Exactly how does someone act gay?

:yeahthat: my question exactly.

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Specializes in psych..
60 students 12 males, none gay. All are either married or in a serious relationship.

My ex-boyfriend is a nurse. He is as far from the stereotypical thoughts of a male nurse. He borders on the side of hard core Harley dude :lol2:. Long hair, tats, rides a Harely, etc..oh and very much the womanizer!! Hense why he's my EX!! :angryfire Regardless, as "hard and tough" as he appears to be on the outside, he just as warm and compassionate on the inside.

I've yet to run into a gay nurse. Or maybe I have and my radar needs tuning. BUT I have worked with several lesbian nurses.

I think its all just fallback from times gone by. These days, all walks of life are entering nursing..

You are so right. I once was very politically active in my younger years.. I joined a politcal party that had merged with a gay faction. In one meeting about 100 gay members or gays interested in the meeting came. Yes I saw the Harley dudes you mentioned, and the ones that looked like they were at a chamber of commerce meeting. Only one, in the whole meeting met the gay stereotype to almost perfection. He had a rose tucked into his hair, tight leotards, pranced around like a peacock seeking attention. I think even other gay members, were raising eyebrows, more than i was. I actually think people are in more danger from a gay, who is in the closet or worse in denial, and becomes a cop, or any people career, that may take out his frustrations on other gays. I must make it clear this party was not for gays only, but only put defending gay rights on its platform, along with minority and womens right. Since I am for defending gay rights, I get wrongly accused of being gay. And this party was made up of both gays and straight. Its sad there is so much ignorance, even amongst "educated" people about homosexuality. Its no wonder the both the American psychiatry association and the AMA had classified homosexuality as a disease for many years. I am sure, other people have met other gays that dont or didnt fit the gay stereo type. Actually I live not too far, from where female prostitutes market their services. As I am driving down their turf Blvd..I can tell some prostitutes a mile away from their exaggerated hip rotations, and whatever else is rotating. I have never been turned on by a prostitute, I feel if i have to buy it, something must be wrong with me as a man...But thats another topic. one more thing though.., no matter how sexy , how femenine a woman, I just cant assume shes straight. the moral of the story..YOU CANT JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVERS.

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In one meeting about 100 gay members or gays interested in the meeting came. Yes I saw the Harley dudes you mentioned,

Maybe I'm reading this part wrong, I kind of get the feeling you thought that my ex is male and so am I. When I refered to my ex, he is male, I am female. He was (and still is) straight, as am I.

I was trying to explain that he wasn't what most people think of male nurses. He was a hard core biker type. So when people asked what he did for a living and he came out with "I'm a Trauma Nurse", people were taken aback because he didn't fit their idea of how a male nurse should look, act, walk, talk, dress etc.

Or are you stating basically you can't judge a book by its cover, since you saw gay men who don't portray the sterotypical idea of a gay man. If I'm reading your post wrong, I apologize :) Long night studying :lol:

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Specializes in psych..
Maybe I'm reading this part wrong, I kind of get the feeling you thought that my ex is male and so am I. When I refered to my ex, he is male, I am female. He was (and still is) straight, as am I.

I was trying to explain that he wasn't what most people think of male nurses. He was a hard core biker type. So when people asked what he did for a living and he came out with "I'm a Trauma Nurse", people were taken aback because he didn't fit their idea of how a male nurse should look, act, walk, talk, dress etc.

Or are you stating basically you can't judge a book by its cover, since you saw gay men who don't portray the sterotypical idea of a gay man. If I'm reading your post wrong, I apologize :) Long night studying :lol:

LOL CT...I guess I better wake up before I post..sorry for distorting your post.it certainly was not intentional. Yep we have a hard core biker type, does same work as we do..hes lucky...he is a board certified PSYCH TECH....nice GENERIC title. I think Nurses need a new name that would reflect that would be more inclusive of all genders. Btw the Biker at work I think its safe to assume he is straight.

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Can we just get over the straight vs gay thing? I'm straight and have gay friends at work and outside the hospital. The more we postulate on stereo-types, the more we perpetuate them--esp as guys in nursing. I'm really not concerned with what my pts think about my sexuallity, just that I'm giving them the best care I can-and being a brother to all the comrades of my care team.

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I think more nongay males go into nursing because you can conceivably feed a family on the wage,it wasn't always that way. I hope not to see a change in the title of nurse;there are so many titles out there that many don't fully understand, but everyone seems to know what & who a nurse is/does.I hope we don't see a replacemant title for doctor (MD) either.oh, replying to another person's blog, not too many lawyers,engineers or other male dominated role models see you(the patient)naked.

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I notice a lot of gay men in nursing because I keep an eye out for them ;) However I doubt there's a higher concentration of gay men in this profession compared to others. It's wrongly assumed, unfortunately.

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What I found really funny was that I started nursing training a year and a half ago and I have been labelled as a stud with the women. Funny thing is I am the one that's actually gay in the cohort! I don't hear too much of the male nurses = gay though I must admit that when I tell people what I do they go 'oh well that is about right (gay and nursing)'.

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Specializes in HCA, Physch, WC, Management.

I've never assumed that any of the guys in my courses were gay and I'm fairly certain that none of them are. I have a few male nurse friends and none of them are gay either.

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I dunno bro, I'm a single guy who is fit. I'm sure I'll hear all about it. But I'm also a former US Marine. So maybe not. Especially after I have to mean mug half of them they will cut it out.

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I'm a straight male student, and I only know of one gay student that goes to another school. But I was on stage at a gay bar (dont ask) and when I said i was going to be a nurse, about 8 people out of 50 were nurses and started applauding me. Then they yelled "oh He must be gay", they werent serious obviously, I know it was just a joke, but i thought it may be worth mentioning that they joked about nursing being a gay mans profession.

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Well, it's because there are more men in the profession, and I think that is helping alot. Many stereotypes do somewhat begin with a factual basis, it's just that it may have applied to a very small number of people and no longer applies at all. I think at one time there may have been a disproportionate number of gay men in the profession, but that is certainly no longer the case....so the stereotype "stuck".

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