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*

[ObtundedRN, BSN, RN]

How about why does everyone refer to another nurse as "she?"

[rn/writer, RN]

How about why does everyone refer to another nurse as "she?"

Because it's statistically more likely to be correct, and it's less awkward than saying "he or she" and "him or her" all the time. This is something women have had to live with for a long, long time.

If it's clear that the person being referred to is male, most of us try to use the right pronouns.

[hiddencatRN, BSN, RN]

How about why does everyone refer to another nurse as "she?"

Yep, even when there's the male icon by the screen name?

In my area, there are a lot of male nurses. I think my graduating class was about a third guys, many of my nurse coworkers are dudes (AND I work in peds too!) but I still catch myself automatically assuming that when someone starts talking about a nurse, it's a female nurse. I'm getting better at it, but I still think it's good for guys to have a space to come together and talk about uniquely "male" issues in nursing.

[LPNweezy]

Oh i hate that!!! When i refer to someone in a career, i always use 'they'.

[mowski1214]

If a nurse is a nurse, and going to the bathroom is going to the bathroom, why do men and women have separate bathrooms (without considering the exceptions of unisex bathrooms)?

[ZippyGBR, BSN, RN]

Because it's statistically more likely to be correct, and it's less awkward than saying "he or she" and "him or her" all the time. This is something women have had to live with for a long, long time.

If it's clear that the person being referred to is male, most of us try to use the right pronouns.

i think it's the generic referral to she that irks , sadly english in any flavour doesn't have a proper gender neutral term to use instead of she or he , i tend to type s/he a lot of the time in these kind of settings as a foreshortned 'he or she' , the use of 'it' is not really liked or tends to be taken as hostile or facetious.

while attitudes still refer to 'Male Nurses' and create issues based on gender then there is a need to consider these issues, and it seems the issues are more of an issue in the US than they are elsewhere

[mehitabela]

As a female, I generally don't think about how hard it still can be for male nurses ( and aides), but just a few nights ago something happened at work that illustrated perfectly( at least to me) why our guys might need a specific forum to go vent and get support. I had gone to do my start of shift assessments and one of my patients had her husband visiting. I work on a geriatric unit in a hospital. The patients husband rather belligerently asked me who " Johnny" was and looking at the dry erase board that we keep in patients rooms to orient them, I saw the previous shifts nurse still up. I explained that " Johnny" had been his wife's nurse last night. The husband was furious. He said no man should be helping his wife and what kind of place were we running here. I respectfully and calmly told him that we have several male nurses and aides and they were knowledgeable, caring, and professional people who were great at what they did. I asked what he would want to have happen if his wife were soiled and we had no female nurses or aides on that shift. ( this would be rare but it does happen). The husband said he and his wife would rather she sit that way all night than have a male help her. I spoke to him at length and finally got the man to say all care besides brief area could be attended to (I suppose we could call a nurse or aide from another unit if we had to) which would make it difficult for everyone. The aide working that day was one of the guys and he was literally seething with frustration over this! So what I'm saying is I can certainly understand the guys needing a space to discuss the ins and outs of their particular issues! :)

[Juwon]

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.

Im a male myself and i find the male section a little dumb with the type of questions they ask.