Gay male nurse stereotype?

Maybe you just need to take your gaydar in for calibration.

Don't know where it comes from but I have been a nurse for 5 years and only a very small percentage of male nurses are gay that I know of.
People love to talk and I think this perception has been blown way out of proportion because some people seem to find entertainment in this situation.

I think the stereotype comes from people's perception that nursing is a career for females and why on earth would a male want to do it. "He must be gay".

I imagine women truck drivers have to contend with the same stereotyping.

steph

We are in a profession that is predominantly women. I think the stereotype is mostly from peoples' perception that men in such a field must be gay. I don't know...or maybe your gaydar does need some tuning up! . I don't think it's a very strong stereotype seeing as I can't even count how many of my coworkers try to hook me up with whatever female family member or friend they have around my age and I'm GAYGAYGAY.

Ok,
Here is my opinion:
First, I was in a class that started with 106 students. 5 were male. NONE were gay. I think it is the public's perception of nursing as a female role.
While I was in school, I worked as a nursing assistant on a unit with threee male nurses, none of whom were gay. I had several male patients who were very uncomfortable with receiving care from a male nurse. They had no problem being stark naked in front of me, but when the male nurse was in the room, they were reluctant to let them do complete assessments (i.e. GU checks, foley care, etc.). I even had one pt say to me he didn't want a male nurse bacause he "must be queer if he's a nurse" !!!! After I told him the nurse was happily married with children, he changed his attitude, and was ok with having a male nurse as his caregiver.
I think it's an attitude left over from "the dark ages" of medicine when there were female nurses only, and doctors were male, never female. Funny how the doctor stigma changed, and the nursing one didn't.
It's up to us to educate the public that nursing isn't just for women anymore, and men make some of the best nurses I have had the pleasure to work with.
Amy

I am actually going to school with a girl who is an ex-female truck driver, going to school to be a nurse. I just thought that she has had some interesting career choices.

I find my experience to be quite a contrast from al7139's. It was usually some of the female patients who had a problem with me doing EKG's, starting foleys or helping them with elimination tasks (I'm male). I can understand why they might feel uncomfortable- especially if they're younger or closer to me in age. I never, however, ran into a male patient who wouldn't be exposed in front of me because he somehow thought I could be gay. I think the stereotype of "male nurse = automatically gay" still exists. Other than the stereotype of nursing only being suitable for females, I don't get why people would think someone's choice of profession would automatically be equated with their sexual orientation. By the way, none of the male nurses I worked with at my old hospital were gay (not that you can really tell all the time, anyway). There was one PCT who was gay, but he was a stellar tech, and I don't think any patients ever had a problem with him simply because of who he loved. His sexual orientation was quite beside the point, to both staff and patients alike, and that's the way it always should be.

When I started in nursing 30 years ago, there were very few male nurses and all of the male nurses I knew WERE gay. (Or at least SAID they were.) All of them. Every single one. It wasn't until 1985 that I met a few male nurses who weren't gay . . . things have changed now. But 30 years isn't that long ago, and the sterotype persists.

As a gay male, I was surprised that there were not more gay men in school. Someone who is gay and working on his PhD in nursing said that his theory on this is that nursing as a career for men has become more mainstream, so more straight men are coming in. In my class of 40, there are 7 men. 3 of us are gay. Practicing bed baths today, the young woman I was working with said she was relieved to know that I am gay!