June 16, 2003 -- Tonight's prime time episode of ABC's "The View," which
consisted of a "His and Her Body Test" designed to impart basic health
information, included an attack on nursing, with co-host Meredith Vieira
appearing disguised as an "ugly nurse"--as Vieira herself put it in
previews--for comic interactions with passersby in a New York mall,
including one segment in which Vieira cared for a woman's "shin splints"
by drawing a happy face on her leg.
The episode was structured around a series of multiple choice questions on health issues, with an unsurprising focus on sexuality, and it did convey some useful information. The talk show's four co-hosts and a few celebrity guests offered serious and joking answers to the test questions. A rotating crew of physicians served as quizmasters, supplying the correct answers and graciously accepting praise (such as Vieira's comment that those with the highest total quiz scores were so smart they should have gone to medical school), as well as the other benefits of appearing on national television. Of course, the lack of any real nurses on a show devoted to the patient education and preventative care at which they excel, though unfortunate, is hardly unusual in a media environment still dominated by physician-centric views.
But what made the episode so anti-nurse was Vieira's "ugly nurse" segments. In contrast to the high regard the show displayed for the articulate, telegenic physicians, the "ugly nurse"'s appearance was cosmetically sabotaged. ("The View"'s web site describes these segments as Ms. Vieira "harassing unsuspecting folks at New York's Nanuet Mall when she went undercover disguised as a nurse.") The "ugly nurse" displayed no real expertise. Instead, she asked shoppers inane questions about faking orgasms and whether happy faces relieved the pain of shin splints. To the extent these segments had a conscious purpose beyond getting laughs, it may have been to emphasize how badly the average person needs the kind of guidance the episode provided, a point also made in one physician's recounting of the results of a poll the home audience had taken using the quiz questions. But the effect of using a "nurse" for this was to reinforce a harmful stereotype, namely that nurses are ditzy lightweights without knowledge or skills.
The "ugly" element operated as a curious final kick, since it is still far more common to see the reverse stereotype of the attractive "naughty nurse" in the media. We can only speculate that the show, sensitive to some women's issues, could see the problems with objectifying a female character, so it chose to go in the opposite direction.
Today, in the midst of a nursing shortage that is one of the nation's gravest public health problems--when dedicated, highly skilled nurses save or improve millions of lives every day despite short staffing that endangers their patients' health and their own well-being--it is sad that some seem to feel that female empowerment involves slavishly embracing medicine, to which women can now aspire, while blatantly disrespecting nurses, over 90% of whom are still women. To see these attitudes on Barbara Walters' "The View"--a popular, award-winning show celebrated for being progressive on women's issues--is more than a little ironic.
We encourage anyone who objects to this episode's "view" of nurses to write to "The Viewmaster" at the show's web site and urge the show to make amends to the nursing profession by creating a primetime show about the rewards of working in the nursing profession. If you do send an email, please send us a copy of it at [email protected] so that we can monitor the effectiveness of this campaign. Thank you.
i bet the view and their prestigious sponsor "Johnson &Johnson" would never have a show making a mockery of sahm's. they'd lose out on a helluva lot of sales if they did that now wouldn't they. i think the view is all fluff as i said before. as a show for women, it ought to show a liitle more respect for such a female dominated profession. great letter canadian.
Isn't Johnson & Johnson the company that's doing all that nursing promotion? It would probably be good to find out someone they're sponsoring is creating the opposite image J&J is trying to create.
Yes, Johnson & Johnson is the company sponsoring the $30 million Campaign for Nursing's Future. I spoke to the director of J&J's Campaign and she said that they had no idea that The View was going to insult nurses, and I certainly believe that they don't want bad publicity on this. However, they do have corporate muscle and we should copy our letters to The View to J&J and ask them to use their weight to pressure The View into doing nurse-friendly television shows to make amends to the nursing profession.
Good letters you guys. Keep 'em coming! Even if you only have one sentence to say--just register your disapproval to them. It counts.
Re: Abby on "ER", you might be interested in our write-up of "ER"
I am so tempted to go to the show, sit in the audience and ask them, on behalf of all nurses, what they have to say for themselves!Oh, I forgot ...I don't have time to do that! I am way too busy saving lives!Guess a letter will have to do!
The View is a cool show in that it's slant is outragous. My total Views seen =(3..5) episodes. The variety is a change, and I always am entertained by the View, Oprah,Dr. Phil and so on.
this is clipped from the 20/20 newsletter that Barbara Walters sends out prior to Friday's show:
"Doing The View in prime time, as we did this past Monday, was a hoot. We had a lot of fun, while trying to get some serious information across about major health issues. If we pulled it off, our viewers got both facts and laughs from the program. And it gave us an opportunity to get more dolled-up than we do in the morning!"
"Doing The View in prime time, as we did this past Monday, was a hoot. We had a lot of fun, while trying to get some serious information across about major health issues. If we pulled it off, our viewers got both facts and laughs from the program. And it gave us an opportunity to get more dolled-up than we do in the morning!"
ceecel.dee, MSN, RN
869 Posts
I would expect (and laugh at) this portrayal, if done by Carol Burnett....but Merideth??.....on an "intellegent women's show"?
I sent an email.