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Masculinity and Nursing Western civilization, as we know it, has been traditionally based upon the principle of separation of social roles between men and women. The beginning of womens emancipation process did not change this situation by much; however, it laid ground for the reevaluating of employment practices, which even today are affected by socio-political stereotyping. In this paper, we will make an attempt to look at such stereotyping as something that comes absolutely natural, rather then being caused by intolerance and bigotry, as we are being told in recent years. Since the rise of political-correctness, as dominant social ideology, it became very common to fuse an opposite cultural and social concepts into something unified. This applies to the concepts of masculinity and nursing better then to anything else. Nowadays, we have male nurses, even though that the popular perception of nurses clearly associates them with White females, whose dresses are intentionally made short, because it is believed to a have a positive effect on recovering patients.
During the course of this paper, we are going to explain the inner reasons why some men choose in favor of applying for traditionally female jobs. However, in order for us to be able to do this, we need to understand that men in nursing, just as women in police force, indicate that our society is affected by gender inadequateness, which used to signify the beginning of every ancient civilizations decline. We also need to understand that the cultural phenomenon of male nurses is closely linked to the demographic trends in modern Western societies. Therefore, it would be wrong to discuss this issue as something that only relates to the problem of having culturally imposed inequality, when it comes to hiring practices. The socio-political implications of males being able to work as nurses have much wider range than it is commonly believed, because gender affiliation is now being thought of as something accidental, which does not carry any consequences. As a result, Western societies are being negatively affected by the lack of social harmony.
This is because being men or woman, has traditionally been associated with having certain social responsibilities. Only this allowed traditional societies to function as an integral entity. Today, multicultural societies waste the bulk of its creative potential to extinguish social antagonisms within itself, instead of using it to back up scientific and cultural progress. Thus, the fact that men are being not just allowed but also encouraged to become nurses, shows that something is rotten in the kingdom of Denmark. It is nothing but the part of politically correct brainwashing propaganda, which strives to deprive people of their prominently displayed gender affiliation. This is why it is often impossible to distinguish typical female Liberal from male Liberal they often wear the same clothes, have the same body piercing and are equally attracted to Starbucks, where they like to drink organic coffee, while whining about worlds injustices.
They are the ones who do their utmost to encourage men to become nurses. In her article Male Nurses Move Beyond Stereotypes, Rachel Lapp suggests that that reasons for men choosing in favor of making career in nursing are purely idealistic: The reasons men are now choosing to go into the nursing profession are similar to those cited by women who go into the field: an interest in caring for sick individuals and promoting families, endless opportunities for specialization and job variation. Nurses are also in demand, providing options and stability for graduates (Lapp). However, when we begin to study this issue little closer, it will appear that these reasons are actually very banal and practical. Nurses get paid 20 - 25 dollars an hour for doing things that do not require a lot of training, such as changing patients bad sheets or assisting them when they take bath. It is possible to obtain a Certified Nurse Assistant certificate within a matter of three months.
In some states, it is not even necessary for the applicant to speak English, in order to enroll for the course. In her article Men in Nursing, Vicki Chung suggests that the percentage of male nurses continually increases, even though that it is still too insignificant: Approximately 5. 4 % of the 2. 1 million R. N. s employed in nursing in the United States are men, according to the National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses conducted in March 1996 by the Health Resources and Services Administration. The survey also found that roughly 13 % of students enrolled in nursing schools are men. Slowly, the number of male nurses increases (Chung).
However, author forgot to mention that 85 % of these male nurses consist of representatives of racial minorities. It is very hard to believe that these nurses care about the well-being of the patients more then about anything else. They are there for money. In fact, they often prove to be professionally inadequate, even after obtaining a nurse certificate.
This is the real reason why many female registered nurses complain about their male colleagues. Chung thinks that it is inappropriate to deny male nurses the opportunity to rise through the ranks: Many male nurses are denied the opportunity to work in certain areas in hospitals, such as labor and delivery units, or nursery units. It hurts their professional pride (Chung). However, the real professionals, in the field of Medicare, rightfully think that it is better for the professional pride of newly arrived immigrants from Africa to be hurt, then the well-being of patients coming under threat, especially when they are in critical condition. The fact is men are not meant to perform female jobs effectively for purely psychological reasons, which it their turn are defined by biological factors.
This is why the drop out rate among male nurses is significantly higher then among their female counterparts. The editorial article Is There A Male Nurse In The House? , which can be found on the site of CBS News, leaves no doubt in the validity of this statement: About 7. 5 percent of new male nurses left the profession within four years of graduating from nursing school, compared to 4. 1 percent of new female nurses, according to the study by a University of Pennsylvania researcher (CBS News). Thus, it is obvious that men have a hard time becoming proficient as nurses. Partially, this can also be explained by society's overall negative attitude towards men in nurses uniform.
This was the main theme in comedy Meet the Parents, which actually promoted the idea of incompatibility between man and his profession as nurse. Gaylord Focker, who is being played by Ben Stiller, simply cannot win the respect of his girlfriends father, played by Robert De Niro. There is only one reason for this Jack Burns was brought up in traditional society, which does not allow much of liberty, when it comes to choosing professions that have a strong gender accentuation. The fact that Greg works as male nurse only strengthens Jacks suspicions that there is something wrong with his daughters fiancee. He simply cannot comprehend how is it possible for the normal man to take pleasure in doing womens work. Jack openly ridicules Greg every time he can and, even those people who are much more tolerant towards Greg, cannot accept the fact that Greg think of his work as something absolutely normal for a man to do: Jack Byrnes: Greg's a male nurse.
Greg Focker: Yes. Thank you, Jack. Kevin: Wow, that's great. I'd love to find time to do some volunteer work. Just the other day I saw a golden retriever, he had like a gimp, you know I just wish I could have done something. Greg Focker: Yeah, well I get paid too so it's sort of a everyone wins thing.
There is an aura or order and propriety about Burns family, which is explained by the fact that its members respect traditional values. Jack Burns is clearly the head of the household and he rightfully considers this state of affairs as being natural. We can say that Jack is the embodiment of masculinity. He does not say so, but it is clear from the context that he does not believe in multiculturalism, dangers of male sexism and other nonsense, which is being enforced upon the society in recent years.
This is exactly why Burns house is being kept clean and taken care of. At the same time, Greg Focker symbolizes the pathological essence of mens desire to become nurses. He is a good person, but he simply cannot stand up for his believes, as if he felt deep inside that these beliefs are wrong, just as Jack Burns had told him. In the sequel to this movie, called Meet the Fockers, we get to meet Greg's parents, who are presented to us as being not entirely healthy, in psychiatric sense of this word.
They are constantly preoccupied with talking about sex, while criticizing Jacks macho attitude as anti-Jewish. In fact, they think of Greg's choice to become a male nurse as something that would help him to realize its own sexuality. From this perspective, it appears that Jacks accusations of Greg being a pervert, because he milks cats, are not altogether groundless. His job provides Jack with the reason to think that Greg's sexual orientation might not be conventional after all. This can serve as another explanation why hospitals are not very eager to hire male nurses. Many of them might appear as being companionate and gentle individuals, but nobody can be sure as to what is actually is on their mind.
The proportion of male nurses being caught engaging in criminal activity, while at work, is much higher, in comparison to female healthcare workers. In his article Mercy or Power: Healthcare Serial Killers, Ted Turner describes many cases of male nurses being charged with mercy killing: Since the mid- 1970 s, there have been 36 cases of serial murder among nurses and other healthcare workers in the U. S. Healthcare has contributed more serial killers than all other professions combined and that the field attracts a disproportionately high number of people with a pathological interest in life and death. Majority of such individuals are men (Turner). There can be no doubt that desire to become a nurse, on the mart of man, gives the legitimate reason to suspect that he might not be psychologically adequate individual.
This, of course does not apply to those men who simply want to earn easy money, even at the cost of damaging their reputation. However, just as it is more likely for the Muslim to plant bomb on the plane than for sixty years old White lady, who goes to Church every Sunday - it is more likely for male nurse to be psychologically deviated than for his female coworkers. This is a simple fact, which is backed up by empirical observations. Nevertheless, it would be wrong to suggest that all male nurses are individuals with psychological problems. Some of them do enjoy helping patients at the hospitals, but we can talk about it as rather exemption. It is not an uncommon sight, especially in senior citizen facilities, to see old people yelling for help, while being totally ignored by male nurses, who are preoccupied more with celebrating diversity then with executing their professional duties.
We are far from suggesting in this paper that men should not be allowed to pursue career in nursing. However, this should not be thought of as social fetish. There should be no political message attached to this, as it is often the case today. Mens desire to become nurses does not support the claim that our society is becoming more tolerant or companionate. The genuine tolerance derives of the feeling of power; therefore, it is masculine in its essence. It is a known fact that strong men are actually good natured and kind, because they do not have the inferiority complex.
Nowadays, the masculine virtues are being increasingly branded as sexist or fascist by the hawks of political correctness. This is why, even though that it might look like as if our society is becoming more gentle, the truth is opposite, because there is less and less masculinity remains in this world. In other words men degrade physically and mentally. In article A Few Good Men, by Lisette Hilton, which can be found on the site of Nurse Week, there is a photo of Mark Bike, who is a RN at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami.
There is no doubt that he is man, but there is something so feminine about him that he would be much better off being born a woman. We do not suggest that Mike should be feeling uncomfortable about his freakish appearance, but under no circumstances should he be thought of as male role model, as author suggests. Even today, American army experiences shortage of recruits, while our Medias promote the idea of turning men into some kind of she-males, who only exist to impregnate women, without having the right to have a political stance, because it is automatically sexist. Our country would benefit much more from men joining the army and women becoming nurses and not the other way around, because otherwise, we might as well call U.
S. Alice's Wonderland, where the rules of logic do not apply. Men should be allowed to pursue any career they want. Nevertheless, if they want to become nurses, they would have to realize that this automatically deprives them of their right to complain about discriminative attitude, on the part of female nurses. Women who become cops or mechanics are actually respected by men, because their professional choices indicate their spiritual masculinity. The same cannot be said about male nurses, because women instinctively cannot stand weakness in men, as it is something that they associate with their own gender.
Women nurses subconsciously understand that the reason why some men become nurses is that there is something wrong about them as representatives of strong gender. In other words these men are psychologically deficient individuals. How can anyone expect them to achieve a professional excellence in any field? The high dropout out rate among male nurses, which we had mentioned earlier, demonstrates the legitimacy of this suggestion. To conclude this paper, let us outline its main ideas again: 1) The presence of male nurses in health care facilities indicate that society is becoming overly feminized, which will have negative effects in the long run. 2) Very few male nurses can be as professionally effective as their female colleagues 3) The Medicare issues should never be affected by political doctrines that are dominant in society at given time. Bibliography: Chung, Vicki Men in Nursing. 2005.
Minority Nurse. Com. 21 Aug. 2007. web Hilton, Lisette A Few Good Men. 14 May. 2001. Nurse Week. 21 Aug. 2007.
web Meet the Parents. 2000. IMDb Memorable Quotes. 21 Aug. 2007. web Lapp, Rachel Male Nurses Move Beyond Stereotypes. 2006. Goshen College. 21 Aug. 2007.
web There A Male Nurse In The House. 6 Sep. 2002. CBS News. 21 Aug. 2007. web Turner, Ted Angels of Death: the Male Nurses. 2003. Crime Library.
Com. 21 Aug. 2007. web Abstract: This paper discusses the relation of male nurses to the concept of masculinity. Outline: Introduction - p. 1 Main part Pp. 2 - 7 Conclusion p. 7
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