Stereotyping Male Nurses

Nursing Students Male Students

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I understand that women are supposed to be the loving and caring type, but why do people think men can't be that way? I know the general view of a man is supposed to be masculine, strong, confident, etc., but why do we get stereotyped as gay or different by the general public? It just doesn't make sense to me.

Specializes in Forensic Psychiatric Nursing.
Like insulting stereotypes much? Maybe post a picture of a sexy female nurse busting out of her too tight, too short uniform while perched on her 6 inch heels?

Even if it's a stereotype from before you were born, that doesn't make it ok. :no:

If you are objecting to a nurse busting out of her uniform, you need a time out.

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My thoughts on this is that male nurses, gay or straight, add a great dynamic to nursing staffs. I worked with four male ER techs when I was one who were all in school for nursing , all straight , and all excellent at their jobs. Sadly , I think men turn away from the career because of the stereotypes, when it's a great career. The men who aren't afraid to face those stereotypes head on end up with a great career and If they are straight , they're now surrounded by smart , well educated females . Sound like smart men to me!!!

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Amen sister id like a smart man than a fool lol

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Because generally, men who are nurses were gay. It's only recently changed within the last twenty or so years where there's now a pretty even ratio of straight to gay men.

I am in a program with roughly 100 students in my cohort. The instructors keep commenting how many men there are (roughly 35/100). Not one that I know of identifies as gay and we've all gotten to know each other very well in person and on Fb -- most have gfs and some have wives/ children. I know it's anecdotal, but my school is a state institution (not a private conservative Christian school). I believe the 50/50 ratio is definitely falling rapidly. Not that this is necessarily good or bad...just wanting to make the point that this ratio will not hold in the years ahead. Nursing is a solid career choice. The pay is decent, it's flexible, there are opportunities for advancement (e.g. CRNA, DNP), and for the most part, outsourcing is not a huge issue. For these reasons, males (including a lot of straight males) are likely to increasingly choose nursing as a career.

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I have at least 2 in my cohort who I suspect are gay - we can kind of sniff each other out. But unlike me, they're young so they probably haven't come to terms with it and are still doing that "gf" bit.

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Ohh it never stopped while I was in school. They'd gang up on the prettiest girls in class or the smartest girls in class. The "Who does she think she is " line was habitual. I never understood why the girls were so catty to each other it was unreal.

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I have worked with many male nurses who in comparison to their female co workers, I would regard as much more caring and client focused. There's exceptional nurses, good/average nurses, and unfortunately a few not so good nurses, I don't think gender comes into it really. Why is the sexuality of male nurses even being discussed? Females don't expect being labelled a "lesbian" because of their job, so why should men be labelled as "gay" because he's a nurse? Despite what the public's perception of male nurses is, we're supposed to be professionals and lead by example, not gossiping about who's gay and who isn't.

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I have 3 guys I work with regularly, and I'm just as thankful for them as I am for my lady colleagues. It never occurred to me that they'd be gay just because they were male nurses. Considering that 2 are married and the other's in a committed het relationship, no surprise.

As far as "less drama", one if the guys is well known for being a bit of a drama king, and is well aware of it. Guess it's just his personality, not hormones after all.

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It's still mostly people imagine a hospital like it was 20 years ago. The image (right or wrong) was nurses were women and M.D's were men. I live in Wyoming where the old ways are still very prevelant. Like It's really hard for a car salesmen to take a woman seriously when she tries to buy a car. Old prejudice of well go get your husband to come in and talk with me. So silly stuff like that, theres a surgeon who looks like me, at least once a day I get called Doctor....

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They can call me gay all they want.

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Specializes in Prior military RN/current ICU RN..

I have been a nurse for 10 years. No one has ever told me I was gay. No one has ever even mentioned it. Where are you getting "why are we stereotyped as gay or different by the general public"? And what do you mean by "different"? I know I am "different" because when I get off work I crank up my Social Distortion and go surfing. If that is what you mean by "different"?

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There is also a significant stereotyping of homosexual males. They're often seen as girly. Not all homosexual men exhibit "feminine" attributes, but can be rather "manly." Men do care, and in different ways then women. Our brains work differently and we can be something different to the table. There is an OB dept. wanting to hire men because of studies showing men care better for certain population, and she'd like to promote a diverse workforce to cover several demographics and approaches.

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