Misogyny in Nursing

Nurses Relations

Published

[color=#111180]here's a small sample of statements i've read on allnurses.com:

[color=#111180]"the majority of nurses are women and women are catty individuals."

[color=#111180]"unfortunately, i don't think backstabbing is confined to nurses, but rather in the female gender."

[color=#111180]"women can be the most canniving(sp?) things on the face of the earth.

[color=#111180]i think it's just the hormone thing."

[color=#111180]"because women are such catty b*tches!!!!"

[color=#111180]"you are right that nursing is a female dominated field & females are the biggist back stabbers. a instructed told me this."

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[color=#111180]misogyny is defined as "the hatred, mistrust or dislike of women."

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[color=#111180]what i never realized until reading "allnurses.com" the past few years is how many women are misogynists.

[color=#111180]the first time i read a header like "why are nurses such backstabbers?" or a post that flatly stated "women are nasty, catty, backstabbers" i fully expected the poster to be jumped upon with both feet by every woman reading the post. when that didn't happen, it surprised, then disappointed, then dismayed me. when so many female posters jumped in to agree with these misogynistic statements, i was shocked and saddened. i am no longer shocked by how many members of this board appear to hate, mistrust or dislike women, but i continue to deplore the pheonomenon. and that so many of these misogynists are women themselves -- that i find even more deplorable. hypocritical and deplorable.

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[color=#111180]anyone defining an entire gender through a lens of hatred or mistrust is, at best, a bigot. a woman defining her entire gender this way is, unless she attributes these same negative stereotypes to herself, her sisters and her best friend is also a hypocrite.

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[color=#111180]how many of us these days would publicly refer to a person with black skin as "the 'n' word"? it's just not done. would you refer to your gay male cousin and his long-term partner as "a pair of ****"? probably not in polite company. yet women are called -- even in popular music -- names describing female dogs, names intimating that they earn their livings taking money for sex or names defining them by their genitalia.

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[color=#111180]if we feel so negatively toward an entire gender, how are we treating our female patients? i find it difficult to believe that someone can make a bald statement about how they hate working with women because they're all catty and backstabbing and then go out and treat their female patients with caring and respect. and if we're working so hard to respect races, cultures and religions other than our own, why are we not working equally hard to respect both genders?

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[color=#111180]the fact that so many nurses are women would have led me to believe that this is a female-friendly web site. instead, the opposite is true. never have i read the hatred and vitriol against women that i've read here, much of it spouted by other women who then go on to say "i can say that because i am female myself."

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[color=#111180]well, honey, i'm so sorry for you. i'm sorry that you define an entire gender by negative stereotypes when i'm almost completely certain you don't define people of other races or cultures by similar standards. and i'm so very sorry that you hate yourself so much you define your entire gender that way. misogynists are sad, emotionally stunted people. female misogynists are worse.

Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
oh contraire - i neither hate, mistrust or dislike women, i am just stating a fact. anyone who has worked with women, knows this to be 100% true. not saying that it is right or wrong, it just brings out the worst in us.

i've worked with women for over three decades, and i don't know it to be true. my experience has been different. your milage may vary, but perhaps it says more about you than about the women you've worked with.

Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
so i can assume that all of the women here that are saying, "women are mean girl backstabbing bullies" will admit that they themselves are mean girl backstabbing bullies?

i don't think you can apply a blanket statement like that wooh. i think you can safely say there are a lot of backstabbing women......

but certainly not all. some women are great team workers and supportive etc. just not enough sadly.

for some reason, the women that say "women are all *******" or "women are all mean, back stabbing bullies" will say that applies to all women except themselves. or except themselves and their best friends. so evidently all women are not mean, backstabbing bullies. i'm sure none of the women on this thread will admit that they themselves are.

i've worked with women for over three decades, and i don't know it to be true. my experience has been different. your milage may vary, but perhaps it says more about you than about the women you've worked with.

there is no need to get nasty, you don't even know me. i was stating my opinion just as you are, the difference is did not make it a personal attack. you just became everything you are chiding me for. catty, unprofessional, and just plain mean. thanks for proving my point.

Specializes in Hospice / Ambulatory Clinic.
for some reason, the women that say "women are all *******" or "women are all mean, back stabbing bullies" will say that applies to all women except themselves. or except themselves and their best friends. so evidently all women are not mean, backstabbing bullies. i'm sure none of the women on this thread will admit that they themselves are.

nah i'm a female dog sometimes but i'm not the one claiming not to be lol

oh an wait for all the posts coming in from people trying to chide or rehabilitate me not realizing that i'm nicer than they'll ever be because i can stand back and say "y'know that was a nasty thing to do i'm sorry."

i'll work with you anytime rubyvee

Specializes in Mental Health, Hospice Care.
There is no need to get nasty, you don't even know me. I was stating my opinion just as you are, the difference is did not make it a personal attack. You just became everything you are chiding me for. Catty, unprofessional, and just plain mean. Thanks for proving my point.

please don't hate me for this, but this made me chuckle....this is by far the most entertaining thread I have ever read here on AN.....carry on....:)

for some reason, the women that say "women are all *******" or "women are all mean, back stabbing bullies" will say that applies to all women except themselves. or except themselves and their best friends. so evidently all women are not mean, backstabbing bullies. i'm sure none of the women on this thread will admit that they themselves are.
no, i know i can be witchy with a b. i can be manipulative and cruel and plain mean. the fact that i am not those things all or most of the time is because i've made a concious decision to be a better person. plus i have the internet to channel some of my aggression anonymously ;)i prefer to belong to groups with a good mix of different characteristics, including gender. i make friends with women, but i appreciate the presence of men. i'm happy to be in a specialty that has a pretty good mix of male and female nurses. i like the dynamics of a gender mixed-group. i know, i know, that makes me a horrible person. but i think pretending there are no gender differences (for biological or socialization or cultural or whatever reasons you want to attribute it to) to fight sexism is like pretending that one "doesn't see races, they just see people" in order to fight racism. ignoring differences doesn't make them go away nor does it address prejudice.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
there is no need to get nasty, you don't even know me. i was stating my opinion just as you are, the difference is did not make it a personal attack. you just became everything you are chiding me for. catty, unprofessional, and just plain mean. thanks for proving my point.

you're right, i don't know you. i'm just pointing out that if the majority of your interactions with other women is negative maybe it's not them. maybe it's you. that was not catty, unprofessional or mean. it might even have been helpful, if you were open to it.

The problem with most discussions about ANYTHING are words like 'all' and 'every'. If someone says "it ALWAYS rains on a day I want to have a picnic", it probably doesn't, even if it happened a lot recently. If someone says "ALL women are _____ or EVERY man is _____", definitely not true either. That's why they're called stereotypes. Someone takes a trait that some people have & tries to apply it to a whole gender, race or whatever.

Certainly, some locations, patient units or wherever, may have a higher percentage of obnoxious or nasty staff, but that doesn't mean everywhere is like that. A nurse named Teresa Brown wrote a book about her first year in nursing. Apparently, her first assignment was on a patient unit with a whole lot of yelling, backstabbing, etc. She moved to another unit & all was well.

In all my years as 'justavolunteer', I have only known 2 people who would have been pointed to as bad personalities & even the other staff didn't like them. When other nurses look out for me & say "stay away from @@@@, she's really nasty today', I know it isn't just me.

I have known plenty of good & kind people in my lifetime, both male & female. I have known some nasty ones of both genders too. Nobody has a monopoly on pleasantness or nastiness.

you're right, i don't know you. i'm just pointing out that if the majority of your interactions with other women is negative maybe it's not them. maybe it's you. that was not catty, unprofessional or mean. it might even have been helpful, if you were open to it.

before i quit to go back to school i worked for over 15 years in a male dominated industry, and in that time i can count on one hand the number of women i worked with on a daily basis. my statement was more a commentary on what my girlfriends and family have gone through. i never once stated it was my personal experience.

to signal out one person (who you don't know) and point out what you perceive as their flaws, makes you a just flat out mean. i didn't ask you - don't judge people, it isn't a flattering trait.

Specializes in Med/surg, Quality & Risk.

To signal out one person (who you don't know) and point out what you perceive as their flaws, makes you a just flat out mean. I didn't ask you - don't judge people, it isn't a flattering trait.

She only suggested that you might be the problem, she didn't say it was a fact. And it wasn't said in a nasty way whatsoever.

Do blanket statements about the negative characteristics of women reflect a misogynistic attitude? Yes, I believe they do.

Do people make blanket statements based upon their own personal experience? Of course.

Are human beings capable of recognizing their own biases and questioning them? Absolutely!

Therefore, in my opinion, those who cling to misogynistic viewpoints without examining them are *choosing* to do so, which makes it even more misogynistic.

Specializes in Forensic Psych.

Therefore, in my opinion, those who cling to misogynistic viewpoints without examining them are *choosing* to do so, which makes it even more misogynistic.

And how exactly would you know who hasn't examined their beliefs?

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