If we are supposed to be promoting gender equality in nursing

[LPNweezy]

Then why does allnurses have a male nurse forum and a male nursing student forum, i thought a nurse was a nurse? Not upset, just wanted to point this out. :)

i was skimming through the students page, and i saw PCT, LVN to RN, then male nursing students- i just thought its a bit out of place

Equality*

[Student4_life]

I think you ment gender equality, but on to your question. Men in Nursing are a unique population. Just like I get frustrated with state specific questions clogging up the pre-nursing forum I doubt many would want questions that pertain only to men clogging up the general forum. Same as any of the unique populations, men are a vast minority (some where around 5% right?, although the school I am applying to is around 12% so maybe that 5% is off) and have another forum to get a response from a targeted field.

[netglow, ASN, RN]

I think it was a minority support kind of thing initially. But, you do raise a good discussion point. Is a special section needed these days? I mean, what do they all do in there anyway... watch basketball, eat and talk about girls...? Some kind of "man cave"?

Just kidding... sort of.

[LPNweezy]

oops! left out the E in equality

[Jonathank]

I'll co-sign both of the responses you've gotten. The male nurse forums are kind of irrelevant to me (I've never seen a thread there that held my interest.) But they do get some traffic, so evidently some people find them useful.

[Bill E. Rubin]

I think they are useful to the newbies and male nurse wannabes because men in nursing is such a tiny minority, many men considering going into nursing don't have any role models to look to to ask the "dumb" questions. So the forums, FTMP are a place for those questions to be asked, and you'll see most of the threads are started by newbies.

[sevensonnets]

I don't feel personally responsible for promoting gender equality in nursing. It doesn't bother me if the guys want to talk amongst themselves.

[KJStarling]

Personally, I was hoping to read about gender quality!!! Good men are sooooo hard to find!

Just kidding!

[Cinquefoil]

Equality:

If male nurses couldn't participate in general nursing forums here, that would indeed be "separate but not equal".

If male nurses have the OPTION of posting under the male nursing forum, that would allow them the choice of whether they post to a general audience (all nurses) or a specific audience (male nurses). This is actually a freedom rather than an act of marginalization.

Many of the posts in the "general nursing discussion" are posts about women's issues; whether these should be called "general nursing discussion" (as opposed to "women's nursing discussion") is an interesting issue.

On the one hand, nurses are "generally" women.

On the other hand, if topics for men are separated from the "general" discussion for being too gender specific, then shouldn't allnurses move ALL posts which specifically mention gender into their gendered subheadings?

(And then how many genders should allnurses support? male, female, trans, genderqueer, two-spirit, intersexed???)

Any moderators want to share thoughts on allnurses's current policy, and the thinking behind it?

[LPNweezy]

I'm wondering, since i'm getting so many 'men are a minority in nursing' responses, why don't all the minorities have their own place at allnurses? because that would be impossible. I just think a nurse is a nurse. and we shouldn't be separated based on gender. I welcome men to use the female section of all nurses lol :heartbeat :)

[rn/writer, RN]

I'm wondering, since i'm getting so many 'men are a minority in nursing' responses, why don't all the minorities have their own place at allnurses? because that would be impossible. I just think a nurse is a nurse. and we shouldn't be separated based on gender. I welcome men to use the female section of all nurses lol :heartbeat :)

There is no "female section" of AN. Men can and do post in all areas.

There are a couple of reasons for having a "Men in Nursing" forum. As a previous poster mentioned, we have a lot of young people who come to this site to find out if they should consider a nursing career. We want young (and not so young) men to know that nursing is a reasonable option for them, and to do that, men need to have a visible presence on the site.

Men also need to be able to talk about things that relate to being a guy in what used to be a woman's world. They need the freedom to speak frankly (within reason) and to seek out the opinions of other men in similar situations and discuss their experiences without feeling like they're treading on too many toes.

The Men in Nursing and Male Student Nurse forums are not exclusive. Neither one has a "No gurlz allowed" sign at the entrance. Women post in both places, but we hope they do so with respect.

It's a challenge for any minority group to make their way into a profession that has traditionally been difficult for them to enter. Even after their presence has been established, it's good to feel like there is ongoing support and understanding of the particular issues that relate to that group. That's why there are groups for women in law enforcement and firefighting and other formerly "male" professions. So long as such collectives aren't used to promote hostility or keep others out, they can be a force for good.

[LPNweezy]

There is no "female section" of AN.

haha i know there is no female section, it was a joke