Nurse Stereotypes
The profession of nursing is stereotyped. Nurses are commonly expected to be female and so male nurses are often stereotyped as effeminate. In forms of low humour such as get-well cards, nurses are commonly portrayed as bimbos and, in medical drama and novels, nurses are commonly portrayed as young, female, single, childless and white. Studies have identified several such popular stereotypes including:
- Angel, exemplified by the popular accounts of Florence Nightingale – The Lady with the Lamp
- Battleaxe or harridan, exemplified by Nurse Ratched
- Bimbo or airhead, exemplified by Nurse Betty
- Alcoholic, exemplified by Nurse Sarah Gamp
- Stuff up or mistake maker, exemplified by Nurse Greg Focker
- Handmaiden – the assistant of a doctor, who would be usually stereotyped as male.
- Sex symbol or nymphomaniac
- Torturer, exemplified by Annie Wilkes
- Woman in White
Read more about Nurse Stereotypes: Angel
Famous quotes containing the words nurse and/or stereotypes:
“She’s loose! She’ll tear the roof off!”
—Mark Hanna. Nathan Hertz. Nurse (Eileen Stevens)
“There are certain stereotypes that are offensive. Some of them don’t worry me, though. For instance, I have always thought that Mammy character in Gone with the Wind was mighty funny. And I just loved “Amos ‘n’ Andy” on the radio. So you see, I have enough confidence in myself that those things did not bother me. I could laugh.”
—Annie Elizabeth Delany (b. 1891)