I try not to be too sensitive about stuff like this, but it is discouraging that even today people sometimes feel they have to preface the word "nurse" with the word "male," when their nurse happens to be a man. It is discouraging to see a supposedly progressive news organization like Yahoo! continuing to "otherize" us males by using such verbiage:
London (AFP) - A Filipino male nurse was jailed for life with a minimum of 35 years on Tuesday for poisoning 21 patients with insulin at a British hospital, two of whom died. Nurse jailed for life for poisoning patients - Yahoo News
It reminds me of when I was telling my friends and family I was going to nursing school. I remember how my pastor told me, "Do you really want to spend your life being a male nurse?" To which I replied, "No, I want to spend my life being a nurse."
Seriously? What if people called someone a "female doctor" or a "female lawyer?" This is silly.
I remember way back in clinicals at the VA a male veteran asked me if I was gay. I said no, I was married to a woman, etc. He asked to see a picture of her. I obliged. He said okay, you can touch me. Afterwards I felt embarrassed for myself. I should not have to defend my profession or throw my gay colleagues under the bus like that.
I know, flame me or say these are "microaggressions." Maybe you are right. But it is not fair either to our male or female colleagues.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
I try not to be too sensitive about stuff like this, but it is discouraging that even today people sometimes feel they have to preface the word "nurse" with the word "male," when their nurse happens to be a man. It is discouraging to see a supposedly progressive news organization like Yahoo! continuing to "otherize" us males by using such verbiage:
It reminds me of when I was telling my friends and family I was going to nursing school. I remember how my pastor told me, "Do you really want to spend your life being a male nurse?" To which I replied, "No, I want to spend my life being a nurse."
Seriously? What if people called someone a "female doctor" or a "female lawyer?" This is silly.
I remember way back in clinicals at the VA a male veteran asked me if I was gay. I said no, I was married to a woman, etc. He asked to see a picture of her. I obliged. He said okay, you can touch me. Afterwards I felt embarrassed for myself. I should not have to defend my profession or throw my gay colleagues under the bus like that.
I know, flame me or say these are "microaggressions." Maybe you are right. But it is not fair either to our male or female colleagues.
It wasn't that long ago when people DID call someone a "Female doctor" or "a female lawyer". They're still calling someone a "female pilot" or a "female detective."
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
The appropriate term is Murse.
I hope you're being "funny" and don't actually believe that. One thing about that "Nurse Book" that just came out is that the author persists in using the term. I find it offensive, and so does my husband, the other nurse in our family.
I've never come across an issue with being a male nurse - it could be that my geographic area has a fairly large number of male nurses and people had simply come to accept it by the time I came along.
It wasn't that long ago when people DID call someone a "Female doctor" or "a female lawyer". They're still calling someone a "female pilot" or a "female detective."
"Female doctor" and "female lawyer" are inappropriate. The polite terms are "lady lawyer" or "lady doctor".
I hope you're being "funny" and don't actually believe that. One thing about that "Nurse Book" that just came out is that the author persists in using the term. I find it offensive, and so does my husband, the other nurse in our family.
I'm not a fan of the "murse" joke either. Not because I find it offensive, the joke is just really, really stale at this point. In a "gee, I've never heard *that* one before" sort of way.
Sick of it and the self-serving laugh that goes with it. "Off with their head"
QUOTE=Ruby Vee;8507077]It wasn't that long ago when people DID call someone a "Female doctor" or "a female lawyer". They're still calling someone a "female pilot" or a "female detective."And don't forget the ubiquitous 'female cop'!!!
And I thought those 'female doctors' only took care of those 'female problems' conditions!
(Now however, if you worked where I did and drove through one particular community, we all did know that 'female cop - the 'blonde'. Oh, she was famous for her traffic stops. Probably won the Twsp/Boro's Citation Award each quarter. We all made her acquaintance on the 11-7 drive.)
I took jlm as being sarcastic, not genuinely meaning that murse should be the accepted term.
To be honest, it's an eye opener to see another side of the "sexism in the professional world" coin. Women have been labeled for decades in traditionally male-dominated fields. Heck, in my much younger days, I was working in retail at a sporting-oriented store. If I worked in our main store, the owner would pull me away from customers (literally while making a sale would say, "let HeMan take care of them," (obviously not a real name) and stick me on secretarial duties. Another co-worker frequently witnessed this, and on one occasion felt it was perfectly justified to blatantly berate me in front of customers, not just subtly be sexist like the boss was. I walked out that day after handwriting a rather detailed letter of resignation, citing how sexistly I'd been treated over the years. It sucked leaving that way. It was a small(ish) family business that I'd worked for for 6 years. My first job ever, and I was really good at it.
Anyway, I'm not justifying the stereotypes, degrading nicknames, or sexism by any means. It's not okay, and I've always been a bit surprised when men intentionally and seriously label themselves "murse". Calling a nurse who is male "murse" implies that they are deserving of a separate title because they are either better or lesser than those of us who are lady partslly inclined. Whichever it is, it is not okay.
Just as women have had to fight their way to not be viewed or labeled differently in fields of sporting, engineering, lawyering, doctoring, science, mathematics, law enforcement and all other male-dominated fields, so, too, will men in nursing. I guess what I mean to say is - guys, I (we?) feel your pain. It isn't okay, but as you grow in numbers in the field of nursing, and advocate for lack of labeling, it'll change. Just takes time. Hopefully not a lot more of it.
I believe your complain is silly. 90% of nurse are female they are describing something to their readers, if they didn't put male nurse the reader is likely to think they are female. They would be right 90% of the time.
I believe your complain is silly. 90% of nurse are female they are describing something to their readers, if they didn't put male nurse the reader is likely to think they are female. They would be right 90% of the time.
Ruby Vee, BSN
17 Articles; 14,051 Posts
It wasn't that long ago when people DID call someone a "Female doctor" or "a female lawyer". They're still calling someone a "female pilot" or a "female detective."