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Cammer said:
Well said MagRedC5. You made some excellent points of history and it really is nice to see the trend begin to equalize between genders. From what I have learned of history, in the 20th century nursing changed from a mostly nongender biased profession to becoming exclusively associated with females. The pendulum is swinging the other way now with more and more men becoming nurses.
However, in regard to the title Male Nurse; I feel that it is inappropriate. Especially when the term is capitalized in text. This implies that a man who is a nurse performs a different job than a woman. I don't mind being a nurse who is a male, but I don't like the term Male Nurse, nor do I like the term Female Nurse. It is not completely accurate. To make my point - If I was a male and I worked in a hospital that only cared for female patients would I then be a Female Nurse? As a nurse I take care of both males and females, so am I a Bi-gender Nurse? I know this is a small point, but I just wanted to show how silly it all is.
But aside from all that, a nurse is a nurse. There is no need to separate out male nurses from female nurses other than to make an issue of the individual nurse's gender. This opens the nurse up to prejudgement and is really unprofessional. The gender of a nurse is really irrelevant and any attempt to make it relevant reeks of sexism. This has no place in our field.
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Well, I can certainly respect your thoughts on dislike of the "Male Nurse" title. Yet, when I say I'm proud to be a Male Nurse it is like a public reminder that a male, just like a female, can be a nurse. I really enjoyed reading this article by Cathryn Domrose titled Men At Work. Go to this link... http://www.nurseweek.com/news/featur.../manenough.asp
Anyway, my point is the nursing profession should not be looked at as a feminine profession and by getting the "word" out that there are male nurses helps spread the "word". So, I don't think the title of Male Nurse implies a man does different nursing than that which females do. A male nurse, a female nurse, a Texas nurse, an Army nurse, a Navy nurse, etc. are all nurses no matter the gender.
BTW, just trying to get my viewpoint across. I do agree with you that a nurse is a nurse, no matter the gender.