I find the term "Male Nurse" discriminatory. If you were stopped by the police for speeding, would you call the police officer "Oh, you are a female police officer!" In taking an order would you identify the attending as a "Female Doctor!" Would you refer to a firefighter or paramedic as a female medic or Firefighter. Try it and see what happens, that is mysoginist.
Lets take it a step further. Oh, you are a nurse of color. Is it ok to call a nurse the "African American Nurse or Asian Nurse etc."
We are all brothers and sisters in the profession.
We don't do that with race - why do it with gender?
For example:
Let us assume 20% of all engineers in the US are Black.
When a black man builds a famous bridge, we don't say "the Engineer, XYZ, a black man, built this bridge". We just say "The engineeer, XYZ, built this bridge".
Actually, it is done with race, and many other issues.
Halle Berry, the first African American female to win an oscar. Condilezza Rice, who gets pegged routinely as the first african american female in her position. Tiger Woods often had his race (mixed) noted in reports.
Religion...how many times have we had it pointed out that JFK was the first Catholic president, or that Joe Leiberman is Jewish or that Orin Hatch is Mormon?
Is there a need to do this? No but it is still done.
an interesting point, though not very relevant. Ever heard of anyone saying "Male florist?".....there are far less male florists...but it just seems normal to call them florist no matter what the gender.
This argument hasn't produced any alternatives to the title of nurse. Does anybody have any ideas?
No. I don't have any other ideas. "Nurse" is fine. Perhaps when we reach a point when it's not an oddity that males are nurses, then like florists we can just be "nurses".
Actually, it is done with race, and many other issues.
Halle Berry, the first African American female to win an oscar. Condilezza Rice, who gets pegged routinely as the first african american female in her position. Tiger Woods often had his race (mixed) noted in reports.
Religion...how many times have we had it pointed out that JFK was the first Catholic president, or that Joe Leiberman is Jewish or that Orin Hatch is Mormon?
Is there a need to do this? No but it is still done.
actually, i agree with roy fokker on this....we DON'T do this with race/gender....yes, we do point out that halle berry is the first a.a. female to win the oscar, but we don't ref. her every time as halle berry the african american actress will star in lethal weapon 18...we don't say the catholic president jfk signed such and such bill..we just say president kennedy signed such and such....we do point out first accomplishments by minorities, but to state it repeatedly would get old.
as i stated earlier, i don't get offended and i could really care less, but we don't really do this with other professions...yes, sometimes people will mention the gender such as a police officer was female, but with nurses it always happens....people always say to me.."oh, your going to be a male nurse."
as far as the word nurse...according to webster's dictionary..it means...a person trained to care for sick people: to take charge of and watch over: to treat with special care: to hold in one's mind or consideration.
I guess my point is....we've never pondered the idea of using the term male florist...well because we're outsiders (well most of us) to the florists world. So maybe the male florists are sitting on another message board using nurses as their example of a non-gender specific career title.
So maybe its such a big deal because we make it such a big deal. I've got no problem associating the word nurse with a function instead of a gender...and I would say the public for the most part is as apathetic as they could be.
actually, i agree with roy fokker on this....we DON'T do this with race/gender....yes, we do point out that halle berry is the first a.a. female to win the oscar, but we don't ref. her every time as halle berry the african american actress will star in lethal weapon 18...we don't say the catholic president jfk signed such and such bill..we just say president kennedy signed such and such....we do point out first accomplishments by minorities, but to state it repeatedly would get old.
I also agree with Roy.
In reference to this post:
I must disagree... we do in fact do such with race, too. Very few NFL coaches are minority, especially Black. Everytime a coaching vacancy comes up a lot of publicity takes place on how many Black candidate coaches are available. I've heard many times on ESPN made reference to how many Black coaches are in the NFL.
We only refer to the race of a person, if the subject of their race is relevant to the discussion.
For example, their have been several articles about black coaching ratios in sports. The unequal ratios are the topic, hence why race would be mentioned in that story. While talking about that point, someone might justifiably mention the fact that (for example) Dennis Green is an African-American Coach.
But like Jb2u said, I've never heard Coach Green introduced as "African American Head Coach Dennis Green of the Arizona Cardinals."
By the logic of that post, any minority within a profession would have their race and gender mentioned, which just doesn't happen.
Which is why I don't introduce my buddy Oren to everyone as "My friend: African American Lawyer Oren". Or perhaps he should start introducing me as "His 1/2 Japanese 1/2 Mexican Male Nursing Student friend...Mingez."
why be bothered on how a profession is perceived by others?
how one perceives themself in relation to being a nurse, is all that really matters.
leslie
That is indeed the most important thing. On a day to day basis it isn't important what others think of what I do for living.
However, while not #1 in my life, it is important that others view my profession with respect. Personally I don't think the term "male nurse" or the fact that "nurse" can be a verb, detracts from that respect.
In re: alternative names, we could use "infirmarian" which has Latin, French and Spanish roots, or the wildly popular German based "Krankenschwester."
krankenschwester comes from the words krank - to be sick and schwester - sister.....do you really want to be a sick sister! it may sound tough when you don't know what it is, but i'd rather be called nurse.
krankenschwester comes from the words krank - to be sick and schwester - sister.....do you really want to be a sick sister! it may sound tough when you don't know what it is, but i'd rather be called nurse.
jay
So, you're saying that krankenschwester is actually the German translation for the band, 'Twisted Sister'.
caroladybelle, BSN, RN
5,486 Posts
Actually, it is done with race, and many other issues.
Halle Berry, the first African American female to win an oscar. Condilezza Rice, who gets pegged routinely as the first african american female in her position. Tiger Woods often had his race (mixed) noted in reports.
Religion...how many times have we had it pointed out that JFK was the first Catholic president, or that Joe Leiberman is Jewish or that Orin Hatch is Mormon?
Is there a need to do this? No but it is still done.