Caregivers

 

Say hello 

To the rug's topography
It holds quite a lot of interest with your face down on it
Say hello 

To the shrinking in your head
You can't see it but you know it's there so don't neglect it

I'm taking her home with me

All dressed in white
She's got everything I need, pharmacy keys
She's falling hard for me 

I can see it in her eyes
She acts just like a nurse with all the other guys

The Nurse Who Loved Me- A Perfect Circle

 

What is it about nursing that has transformed this profession into inspiration for sexual fantasies? "Sexy Nurse" Halloween costumes are immensely popular, and nurses are a fairly commonplace feature in pornos. They have been sung about and featured in music videos and on album covers.

Blink 182, Enema of the State. 1999.

Mariah Carey, "Up Out My Face" music video. 2009.

 

The Beareau of Labor Statistics states that, aside from holding the obvious degrees and qualifications, being a nurse requires a "caring, sympathetic" disposition and the "emotional stability to cope with human suffering, emergencies, and other stresses". I'm sure it's because of these factors that nurses are mostly women.

Apparently, from 1600-1800 nursing was not considered to be a real profession (and by modern definitions it probably wasn't, considering the medical technology of the time). Nurses were viewed by the general public as being women of "low morals". Nursing as a profession only garnered real respect in the mid 1800's with the arrival of Florence Nightingale. Nightingale and her work in the Crimean War brought light to the importance of nurses in the military. In 1916, during World War I, The Royal College of Nursing was founded.
(Timeline of nursing history.)

After that, the arrival of a second World War and the arrival of great pin-up artists such as AlbertoVargas and Gil Elvgren brought a new face to nursing. It'd be my guess that the popularity of the pin-up girls are what originally started the stereotype of the sexy nurse.

 

I can see why the idea of a sexy nurse is so appealing, especially for the soldiers who were bed-ridden in crowded hospitals surrounded by the stench of bodily fluids and chemicals and the moans and screams of wounded or dying comrades. A caring, compassionate woman who's always there to nurture you, care for all your injuries, and supply you with an endless supply of morphine and medications would be fucking awesome. Plus they wore cute little hats and stockings.

In reality, nursing is a pretty damn difficult profession. The college I go to has one of the best nursing programs in the country, and competition for placement in the program is fierce. A gal I know was Salutatorian of her graduating class and had an average GPA of 3.8 for all of her prerequisite classes at the college. She didn't get into the program. Also, real-life nurses wear scrubs. With Winnie the Pooh on them.

I'd like to know what nurses in general think of this stereotype. Baltimore based group The Truth About Nursing is working to change some of the common stereotypes about nurses. From what I gathered by skimming their website, it seems that just about every television show on air right now doesn't give nurses enough credit. They either portray them as the "silent handmaiden" (i.e. gofer for the doctor), or the nurse is not compassionate enough and merely collects readings in an unsympathetic, methodical manner. Oh, and they got really pissed about Mariah Carey's music video. This is what they had to say: 

"Pop stars like Mariah Carey can actually use sexual imagery to sell their work without reinforcing the naughty nurse stereotype, which has undermined real nurses for decades, presenting their work as being all about female sexuality. The naughty nurse imagery that continues to permeate global pop culture tells people that nursing is just a tired sex joke, not a profession for educated men and women who need more clinical and educational resources if they are to keep saving lives. So maybe the image could get up out our faces."

Personally, I do not think any differently about nurses because of the Naughty Nurse stereotype. I know that nurses work their asses off to earn their degrees and to do their job. The fact that high school and college chicks dress in nurse costumes and get all drunk at Halloween parties doesn't change this fact. I also don't think any less of teachers, maids, traffic cops, Marie Antoinette, pirates, or... Sesame Street characters.

I think it all boils down to one thing which is that women are sexy, and men like ogling pictures of women. It doesn't matter a whole lot what they're wearing, or not wearing. They could be wearing a discarded potato sack. Nurses have more appeal simply because of the helpful, nurturing aspect (and the pharmacy keys don't hurt either).

 

Oh, get over it...