Nurses come in all shapes, colors and increasingly both sexes. Let me just clarify what nurses do not look like.
We can have a rousing polemic about the merits of including an image that I distinctly oppose but I think it is critical to confront what you despise.
I hate to beak it to y'all, but nurses are more likely to look like this:
Yes, that is me an ordinary middle aged lady.
Nurses in America have an average age of about 46, we aren't organic spring chickens.
Our significant others might find us alluring and sexy, but it is because we are human beings not playmates. I am not engaging in some diatribe against sexual fantasies either, heck, I rescue Brad Pitt on my trusty super mare from the clutches of Republican minions once in a while.
If I got a dime every time some smirking moron tells me about his "nurse" and "bed bath" fantasies I could have retired from the body fluids, medication administration, death, despair, treatments, teaching, praying, listening, shifts, and stress ages ago. When I hear that juvenile comment I think : Blank you and the warthog you rode in on.
The sexualization of nurses reveals a deep and more disrespectful meme that undermines us as people and as professionals. Ultimately, we seem to be fair game because we are a female dominated field. While there are the cop and fireman fantasies they are more heroically framed and packed with macho gusto
This article gives a good summary of what kind of sexual and stereotypical images that frame nurses. Among my favorites are Dr.Phil's quaint belief that nurses just want to marry doctors if they are cute so they can get out of nursing. Jesus, man and you are a certified therapist? I always thought you were a hack, now I think you are an idiotic and boring hack crippled by assumptions about others.
When the primary way you relate to the image of another human being in the working world is sexual, it implies they are not competent, they are marginal, they are for your pleasure only, and that they are in essence a consumable product to be inhaled and discarded. Sexy nurse jokes aren't funny, they are innately hostile because they subtract from the equation any sense of humanity or ability. We like stereotypes because they are comfortable and familiar, they allow us to frame the world without considering it. They allow us to interact without truly engaging and they muffle and disguise anger. I suppose you can detect a bit of pissy righteousness on my part.
When nurses are not marginalized by sexual images they are invisible in the MSM.
Most movies, and popular TV shows seem to depict hospitals and medical care as hinging entirely on MDs. Apparently, now that women are allowed to be MDs, there is no need to show nurses doing most of the things the MSM would make you think MDs do for patients. I am confident any number of Kossacks could tell you succinctly about the false imagery female MDs have to contend with. MDs rarely administer treatments, medications, or take patients to tests. I can't tell whether the lack of nurses on TV shows amounts to wishful corporate cost cutting, or a basic belief that what nurses do is not important enough to portray in a meaningful light.
If all nurses were unionized, there might be a more concerted effort to de-bunk the stereotypical images. The advocacy organizations and unions that do exist do a fine job of protesting and attacking the imagery but they are also overwhelmed by other issues.
The nursing shortage might just a a big preoccupation for unions and advocacy organizations.
How many young Americans are discouraged by the apparently menial and buffoonish sexuality nurses are subject to and never even consider it as a career choice. The reasons behind the shortage are much more complex than that of course.
I would like to firmly assert that my view is aligned with the majority of nurses but I would be naive to do so. My anecdotal experience has been one in which many nurses either agree that negative imagery exists but see no real harm being done, or think the issue is "over blown" and silly.
Encapsulated within this is that many nurses have a tendency to accept the "positive stereotypes" because they are validating and user friendly. Thus, we like the idea of being praised as "angelic" it is much better than the nympo dimwit, and we know when it is bestowed upon us it from a genuine place. I hate to say this: I am not an angel. I do not have special healing powers. I cannot float in and around to cure all of your ills. If I am an angel, I am not a competent human being just a cipher. I allow you to define me within your comfort zone. I would rather been seen as a caring professional who has technical and intellectual abilities who can advocate with and for patients to solve problems and impart a sense of compassion. Yes, the emotional ingredients are integral to my job but they are not of the other worldly type. My rejection of the angel hat may well bring some scorn and dismay. I can speak only for myself in that regard. However, I firmly believe that until the popular image of nurses as either raging sexpots hoping to score a patient or an MD or altruistic angels ready to sacrifice anything we will continue to be viewed as nothing more than a labor cost by the hospitals and other institutions we work for. It is the goal of all institutions to keep labor costs down.
The American nurse does not act like a handmaiden regardless of where they work and yet women in particular are still framed as being hysterics. Case in point: in my role as a supervisor I am expected to advocate for patient and support nurses when they do. I arrived later than usual to work last night because I stayed over for a meeting and the minute I arrived I was paged by the supervisor covering to come and participate in rounds because a patient was the subject of discussion. The patient in question had been declining over the last few days and the nurses were arguing that closer observation in an ICU was warranted. My diplomacy filter was in the shop getting repaired and i spoke forcefully and bluntly to be greeted with complete silence. The nurses realizing I was aware of the situation dived in and applied more pressure to the MDs. Even though the MD examined the patient and we presented factual clinical data to support our concerns he ultimately received authority to transfer the patient by minimizing the clinical data and complaining that the nurses were nervous. I was told afterwords by the MDs that I was acting like I was not "part of the team" and when I dissented and challenged the "nervous nurse" allegation the MD whole received the authority denied his emphasis and said he was supporting our clinical claims.
I believe I am fairly paid for the job I perform but many nurses in America do not.
Instead of looking like this:
They often look like this: