Is it me, or is there a dichotomy for male nurses??

Nursing Students Male Students

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Okay, just a random observation that I have had. I am in a fast-track nursing program, and of course there are very few guys. It seems like you can put guys into two big catagories: the one's with relatively 'femanine' personalities, and the other's that seem to be over the top masculine haha.

Maybe this is just what I have seen, don't get me wrong there are a few pretty regular guys, but there does seem to be two extremes here.

I train MMA and at my club there are two other male nurses there, which to me is insanely high out of the maybe 80 guys that train there. I've also noticed a large number of... um... "sensitive" guys that seem to fit the male nursing stereotype as well.

There's also a few other guys whose brain seems to be made of pure testosterone, lol. I was just wondering if anyone else noticed the same thing.

Reading these, I see a pretty narrow-viewed consideration of male/female qualities.

I love playing with kids, I have no problem with empathy in the slightest. Unlike previous posters, I don't each much cow, mostly Rabbit food :)

On the other hand, I love my Huskie chainsaw & do 35-40 cords of wood a year. My view of psychotherapy involves grease, saws, axes, and things falling down :). I hate watching any kind of sport but love playing all kinds. I study Jujitsu, Kempo, and Escrima (tried Tai Chi but I can't move that slowly). I'm also damned good with anything electronic.

Oh, and as my wife reminds me as I'm writing this, I also rebuilt a kabota B8200 then helped my wife deliver our third child at home later in the day.

I cook, I clean, I help homeschool my 4 kids (math, science and history for me, english etc from my wife)....

I'm sorry man but in my head, I'm just a regular fella. Now my Dad... Ex- navy seal, 2 tours in Nam, Chest like a brick wall @ 62...... Wayyy off the Masculine side of the continuum.

For feminine, are you talking about fellas who are small in spirit and muscle mass, cowardly, unassertive, lazy, etc? Thats not feminine, that's weak willed boys who never grew up and yes, I know quite a few of those. People who stare at TV's while their children develope obesity & DM or play video games while their Children become Public-school enforced delinquents (harsly put, I know)

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Specializes in CNA.
There's also a few other guys whose brain seems to be made of pure testosterone, lol. I was just wondering if anyone else noticed the same thing.

Might just be your class. There are about 8 guys in my class of 80, none of them feminine and none of them over the top masculine. The guys ages range from 18 to 40+, 5 are American born citizens, two are from Africa and one is from India. Not a macho man or sissy boy in the bunch. Just dudes going through nursing school like everyone else.

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Yeah I realize nursing has been sexualized; dudes like nurse Media the same way that girls like firemen Media.

But from an insider's perspective, I think we all know that we're in it because it's an interesting, progressive and essential profession. And sex has nothing to do with it; in fact I don't have any desire to date any of my classmates (not that they are unattractive) because the things we have seen and done together have gone past the threshold of normal intimacy in an unconventional context.

In fact, I'm not sure I can look at nurse Media the same way.

Back to the OP's hypothesis, I think perhaps it has been misstated. I haven't assessed the dudes in my class in terms of 'manliness', however, I do notice that pretty much all the guys look reasonably fit. Myself, I race road bikes and do distance running, so I probably fit a "femanine" build more than a manly build. I think perhaps a common theme is that many of the guys in nursing like the physical aspect of the job; like we're all reasonably smart (enough so to pursue a desk profession like accounting or law), but can't see ourselves sitting in front of a computer all day.

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Nursing does attract a wide variety. I know a bunch of Guys who could be called macho: deer hunting, firefighting, former paramedic, P90X type of guys, ex-Marines.

Then there's the guys with the slick hair, the lisp, who are extroardinarily effeminate, and largely incapable RN's.

Then there's a ever growing group of just regular guys, who have a wife, kids, and just can't seem to be categorized as normal because they're a MALE NURSE! eew!

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I think you are on the right track. I am just average joe and the only other male in our class is very "feminine" and fits with the gals much better than I do. It has been very hard for me to fit with all the female hormones. With the women it's like starting over with them everyday, one day they are sweet and friendly and the next you are a insensitive pig. It drives me crazy, wish their were at least four "normal" guys to go with the 22 females. My biggest omg so far has been our class t-shirt. Designs were submitted and voted on, the winner...........a pink shaded shirt with a very feminine Nurses hat on the front. I questioned the choice for males and was besieged by fellow students and our female instructor as over sensitive and lacking pride in the nursing profession. Good luck

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Then there's the guys with the slick hair, the lisp, who are extroardinarily effeminate, and largely incapable RN's.

Wow -- speaking of offensive, narrow-minded, generalizations ... :uhoh3:

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Specializes in Urgent Care NP, Emergency Nursing, Camp Nursing.

I find this discussion reminiscent of some of the supposedly feminist nursing articles published in the early-nineties questioning whether men could be caring as nurses and heavily implying that they couldn't be.

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It is just you.

Review your 'stages of human development' text and find the part where beyond the age 50, those people with strict gender role expectations are generally less satisfied with their lives than those without such expectations. Those who adopt more rounded characters, regardless of their gender, are generally more fulfilled by the time they reach this stage of life, and beyond.

Also, if you are bothered by gay men, just own it. Don't be coy about it. No one has time for this in the classroom or the work place.

Also, please do some self-assessment to determine why you have this bias. Such an attitude will not go over well when you have to perform nursing care for a gay man or his family. I suggest you also look for other biases you have, that you may not be aware of, that will hinder your ability to give competent nursing care to any of a variety of clients.

If you don't have a problem with gay men, then I don't see the point of your OP.

"Masculine" is, by definition, what men do. If a man is "sensitive" that is masculine because a man is doing it. If you are buying into personality stereotypes, your level of nursing care will be sub-par. If you are 'insensitive', don't be surprised if your future clients complain about your lack professionalism and future co-workers complain of your ineptitude.

And yes, 'talking smack with the boys' is insensitive and unprofessional. Keep it out of the client areas and out of my face and it won't become a problem.

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Specializes in ICU.

This seems like a touchy subject for a lot of you guys, not sure why? In my opinion thats just life, you're going to meet people who are on the extremes of the spectrum but the majority is going to fall in the middle. Same with women, some are going to be completely ****** and overly outspoken and opinionated and others won't bother to open their mouth when they feel they should due to fear of repercussion. As far as the correlation between feminine and gay I think it's irrelevant. You'll meet people that you can tell are gay from the first 30 seconds of conversation and people that you might have known for 30 years and had no idea. Not anyones business but yours and your partners, its just part of someone's character and is about as important as eye or skin color.

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I have worked as a CNA for over 35 years. I have worked with a lot of women and men. I think the main question to this is if your co-workers can fulfill there responsibilities as a care giver. If you are looking for a place to pick up a mate then you do not need to go into nursing. I have worked with doctors who are gay, nurses that are gay, and CNAs that are gay and have not found one not to be able to carry the weight on their shoulders to giving excellent care the their patients.

Nursing is a vocation and profession that needs people who can live up to the need of the patient as an advocate for patients and attentive to the patients care no matter what.

If you are worried about this then maybe you should try a different area to work in.

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Specializes in I got hurt and went to the ER once.

I think it's you or maybe just your class. consider that it's a small sample size. In my class there was a spectrum from regular guys to Alpha dogs. I don't ever remember having thought about this during my schooling though. We just were who we were and it was pretty much cool.

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I am a normal guy - and in my class there were both extremes. Only 2 other male's in my LVN class - one was extremelly masculine - pumped iron on a daily basis - and the other was more feminine.

A friends program had 3 very feminine men as well.

Could be strictly coincidence - ya never know. lol

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