MALE Nurse, Female Police Officer, Female Dr.

gr8rnpjt, RN · May 9, 2006

I find the term "Male Nurse" discriminatory.
Why do you find the term "Male Nurse" discriminatory. Where is the discrimination in those words?
I could see if someone wrote,
"That stupid male nurse", or
"That idiot male nurse", or
"That weird male nurse", then that, I think would be a case for discrimination.
:trout:

battpos · May 9, 2006

personally, I hate.... no actually... I HATE the term nurse. Nurse does have another meaning -- breastfeeding; and I believe to my core that that is a contributor to the nursing shortage (what adolescent male with any self-respect is going to even think about looking into a career as a nurse?)

Even I -- at age 34 had a devil of a time getting over that intellectually !

I will never refer to myself as a nurse. I will call myself an RN, or a licensed health care professional. I will never call myself a nurse.

I already wrote a term paper on this subject and my professor said he wanted a copy to edit and perhaps submit for publication. No word yet on whether it will be published; but contact me if you'd like a copy...will be more than happy to send.

johny1 · May 10, 2006

personally, i hate.... no actually... i hate the term nurse. nurse does have another meaning -- breastfeeding; and i believe to my core that that is a contributor to the nursing shortage (what adolescent male with any self-respect is going to even think about looking into a career as a nurse?)
even i -- at age 34 had a devil of a time getting over that intellectually !
i will never refer to myself as a nurse. i will call myself an rn, or a licensed health care professional. i will never call myself a nurse.
i already wrote a term paper on this subject and my professor said he wanted a copy to edit and perhaps submit for publication. no word yet on whether it will be published; but contact me if you'd like a copy...will be more than happy to send.

absolutely, you hit the nail on the head. male nurses (if i hadn’t discriminated "male nurse" it would be assumed i meant nurses in general and my point will not be accurately made, eh) tend to gravitate towards icu, trauma etc, more technical, high adrenalin nursing and without the stigmatizing title nurse, many young and older men may consider a career in this great profession. working in these areas of healthcare with a more gender-neutral name (could you get less gender neutral than nursing!!!!!) could maybe even bring some kudos to (insert new title here) as a male.

if calling a female police officer a "female police officer" is misogyny, then calling a male nurse a "male nurse" is misandry!. pc gone waaaaay toooo far, i think.

respect to all my fellow student nursing brothers, theres not many of us. we got to support each other amongst the vast majority. :biere:

gcja · May 10, 2006

i understand your dilemna but I think you are a little off base. People most certainly do comment on other female professionals who enter the male dominated world. As a retired NYC police officer and now an RN, I can personally attest to the fact that my sexuality was often a topic of conversation. I was insulted and humiliated as a result of being a female cop by both the public and my peers. I was called some of the nastiest curses that you can imagine by people on the street. I simply chose to ignore it as I am a professional and have a job to do. As a matter of fact, I was required to ignore it. See we were given sensitivity training which supposedly trained us for the abusive public. I personally would have been pleased if all they called me was the "female cop". As far a female doctors are concerned, I have patients who request male doctors and won't let a female near them because they feel they are incompetent. I have witnessed patients request white doctors. You are not alone and you certainly are not discriminated against. Sometimes people just call it like they see it. If I see a red saab driving down the street, I will say to my husband, hey honey, "look at that red saab, isn't it beautiful". after all, the saab is red.

getjock · May 10, 2006

As a woman who had a male nurse while preparing for a Csection I have to admit it was weird having a man ask me if I wanted help w/ my panties! He was appropriate, it was just odd.

zaggar · May 11, 2006

>>MALE Nurse, Female Police Officer, Female Dr.

I saw a video with the same title as this thread...I think at a bachelor party... :clown:

battpos · May 11, 2006

... more gender-neutral name (could you get less gender neutral than nursing!!!!!) could maybe even bring some kudos to (insert new title here) as a male.
new title -- yes, i suggested two (prefer not to disclose without the accompanying thoughts regarding them) in my term paper.
dude, we think alike. even to the point that i am also fond of using (parenthetical side-thoughts) as i construct my sentences.
absolutely, males gravitate towards technical, testosterone-driven, executive and military areas of nursing...
notice how nurse anesthesia and military lack the masculine-compromising uniforms :barf01:.

traumahawk99 · May 11, 2006

i'm really not all that wild about the title of "nurse". it's too bad there's not another name for the profession.

i refer to the profession as being an "RN". that way i don't have to say that dreaded word... "nurse"... :).

it's psychological. call me insecure, but i've been the victim of a few jokes from my friends. however, as time goes along, i'm getting more accustomed to the title.

johny1 · May 11, 2006

... more gender-neutral name (could you get less gender neutral than nursing!!!!!) could maybe even bring some kudos to (insert new title here) as a male.
new title -- yes, i suggested two (prefer not to disclose without the accompanying thoughts regarding them) in my term paper.
dude, we think alike. even to the point that i am also fond of using (parenthetical side-thoughts) as i construct my sentences.
absolutely, males gravitate towards technical, testosterone-driven, executive and military areas of nursing...
notice how nurse anesthesia and military lack the masculine-compromising uniforms :barf01:.
parenthetical, i just learned a new word. thanks mate, great minds think alike
women can look, act, work to a certain degree in a masculinized manner, setting and it be deemed acceptable. if a man even hints to look, act, work in a feminized manner or setting, his masculinity will be questioned or to get all academic, he will be committing a social more (learned this word in bloody socigenderisasocialconstructology at nursing school). to answer on the possible reasons why this is so, could become very unpolitically correct……so i won’t, eh:argue:

ChesterRN · May 13, 2006

i refer to the profession as being an "RN". that way i don't have to say that dreaded word... "nurse"... :).

I use the same logic, too. I'm not eating Kentucky Fried Chicken, I'm eating KFC. I find that this helps when I'm choking down deep fried pigeon parts.

ChesterRN · May 13, 2006

For those of you that have no problem being refered to as a "male nurse", history applauds you. From the Nightingale doctrine that only "women can be true nurses" and that nursing "is an art that comes naturally only to women," (Evans, 2003) to the ban on men in army nursing in the first half of the last century (Army Nurse Corps Historical Documentation, 2003) to the current under representation through overt discriminatory practices that have caused a gross under representation of men in the ranks of nursing (Yang, et al, 2004), to present day when the vast majority feel that the term nurse, when applied to men, indeed needs a clarifier.

Who knows, with this way of thinking and acceptance of the term "male nurse" maybe in a hundred years or so, nursing will be represented by 7% men instead of 5-6% as it now stands today, up from 4% in 1966 (Men in American Nursing, 1997).

For those of you that support the term "male nurse", you should feel proud, as it is takes courage in today's society to aid in facilitating and perpetuating a gender stereotype.

References

Evans, J. (2003, November 28). Men nurses: a historical and feminist perspective. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 47, 321-328. Retrieved February 15, 2006, from EBSCOhost database.

Men in American Nursing (1997). Retrieved February 14, 2006, from http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/6011/

Office of Medical History, Army Hurse Corps Historical Documentation (2003, January). Proud to serve: The evolution of Male Army Nurse Corps Officers. Retrieved February 16, 2006,

Yang, C., Gau, M., Shiau, S., Hu, W., & Shih, F. (2004, March 10). Professional career development for male nurses. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 48, 642-650. Retrieved February 15, 2006, from EBSCOhost database.

SummerGarden, BSN, MSN, RN · May 14, 2006

We are all brothers and sisters in the profession.

True, but other professions do acknowledge differences and they do so not to be discriminatory but, as others have mentioned, to acknowledge that diversity exists within a field dominated by one group. For example, female Marines are called "Women Marines"(WMs) by the Corps due to the fact that the US Marine Corps is 95% male.

The WMs are no more or no less Marines. So, for fun I call the males M&Ms.