Discrimination of Men as nurses?

8mpg · Oct 9, 2012

Yeah... Im always sucked into lifting fat patients

Sacred eagle · Oct 12, 2012

It's not just male nurses who arediscriminated against,it's malepatients as well

NurseKrieger · Dec 11, 2012

I ran into "The last of the old guard" in nursing school. A 20 year CNM who taught OB. I cant prove it but I never met a male who aced her class and group projects somehow had different grades sometimes....

Haven’t seen it since.

Orca, ADN, ASN, RN · Dec 11, 2012

I ran into "The last of the old guard" in nursing school. A 20 year CNM who taught OB. I cant prove it but I never met a male who aced her class and group projects somehow had different grades sometimes....
Haven’t seen it since.

An instructor in my nursing school was caught altering the test responses of male students so that they would not pass. Amazingly, due to tenure she was still on the faculty when I came through school several years later.

mofomeat · Dec 11, 2012

The school recruiter seemed as if he (yes, he) was trying to talk me out of going into Nursing when I went in for some advice. He kept saying "I don't know that you'd enjoy it" or "Are you sure you're really cut out for a non-traditional career?" and then would ramble on about firefighting, auto mechanics, welding, or other "manly" stuff. I don't think he works there anymore.

I'm not in Nursing School yet, but in the prereqs. I'm so close to being finished with the prereqs that by now almost 100% of my classmates are also nurses-to-be. Surprisingly, there are plenty of young women who have the "Men don't belong in Nursing" attitude as well. One even made the comment that "Only perverts become male nurses".

I have run into a few older women (some nurses, some not) that have indirectly expressed disdain about my choice or men in general going into nursing. Some of them will make comments like "well, you'll be good for lifting and cleaning, and fetching carts or blankets" and such. I don't think they mean to do it, but it really comes off as "You'll be good for doing all the support tasks and grunt work so the real nurses can do the real nursing work". Bless their hearts.

That said, I've heard a majority of folks say "we could use more men in nursing", and I feel that it is sincere and not for the above reasons. Aside from the handful mentioned above, most of my classmates are unfazed when I say I'm going into nursing, and it's not a big deal at all to them.

kabfighter · Dec 12, 2012

One even made the comment that "Only perverts become male nurses".

I would fear for my career if anyone ever said that to me. I have no idea if I would be able to make my response civil. It would probably be something along the lines of: "Yes, my hot 22-year-old girlfriend really isn't cutting it for me. I only like women with breasts that are tucked into their elastic waistbands."

Only ignoramuses state that only perverts become male nurses.

mofomeat · Dec 12, 2012

I would fear for my career if anyone ever said that to me. I have no idea if I would be able to make my response civil. It would probably be something along the lines of: "Yes, my hot 22-year-old girlfriend really isn't cutting it for me. I only like women with breasts that are tucked into their elastic waistbands."
Only ignoramuses state that only perverts become male nurses.

This is either:

1) a funny coincidence because I too have a hot 22-year old girlfriend,

or

2) proof that the ignoramus is actually right, because my girlfriend is 22 and I am shall we say some amount of years older and wiser. I guess that makes me look like some sort of pervert. :cautious:

However, said person did a pretty good job of alienating everyone in the room by time the semester was done. She was very opinionated, strong-headed, self-absorbed, self-convinced of her right to exist and would often spout out stuff like this (or worse). She routinely offended people and didn't ever seem to notice or care. She'll have a lovely time in patient care, I'm sure.

I wanted to say something to her at that time, but when several other people in the room turned to look at me (the only guy in the place) I just gave a goofy smile, a wink and two thumbs up. :jester:

kabfighter · Dec 12, 2012

Who's to say the two are mutually exclusive? :smokin:

Sounds like she was just stupid. She's going to get eaten alive once she hits the floor. I'd suggest that you start calling her 'Nurse Ratched', but she hasn't earned the title yet.

Orca, ADN, ASN, RN · Dec 13, 2012

My question is. Are you being discriminated against because you are a man or because of the old stereotype of Gay men being nurses?

The funny thing is, the first two male nurses I ever met were not only gay, but flagrantly so. This was in the early 1970s.

I'm in upper management, so I can't say that it has hurt my career to be a male in this field.

Kdrenee · Dec 13, 2012

I think male nurses are very attractive. There is nothing wrong with a guy being a nurse. Why would there be? And why on earth do people automatically assume male nurses are gay? (Honestly I've never heard anyone assume that though). That reminds me of high school, everyone used to make fun of any girl who played softball because they assumed she was a lesbian. Which honestly isn't the same because its not like nursing is a feminine thing. I used to be a PCA on a medsurg floor and one of the nurses was male. He was really buff and all the nurses and female patients just loved him. He was total opposite of gay, and he was one of the best nurses on the floor. I applaud all male nurse, straight or gay, we could use more of them in this field!

Orca, ADN, ASN, RN · Dec 13, 2012

Kdrenee,

The "gay" thing is an old stereotype. Since nursing was initially exclusively for women, when men first began to enter the field it was assumed by many that no straight man would go into a "woman's" profession. You don't hear it much anymore, but it was prevalent for quite a while.