Article on sexy nurses

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The outdated caricature of the sexy nurse — breasts straining buttons on a form-?tting white minidress, shapely legs slipped into white heels — remains pervasive and global. Nurses say it also holds the profession back.


Imagery that sexualizes nurses presents a di?cult job requiring signi?cant expertise as nothing more than a provocative cartoon.

But some hospitals aren’t above spinning the stereotype. A Swedish hospital recruiting nurses for the summer of 2012 posted an ad instructing, “You will be motivated, professional, and have a sense of humor. And, of course, you will be TV series-hot … Throw in a nurse’s education, and you are welcome to seek a summer job.” The hospital trivialized nurses’ quali?cations, tossing in a nursing degree as if it were an afterthought.

In 2010, a Dutch nurse union received complaints that male patients were requesting sex and some nurses were complying. Reuters reported that a nursing student saw a 42-year-old’s home care nurses sexually gratifying him. The man, who had a muscle disorder, told her his previous seven nurses had done the same. When the student refused, the patient claimed she was un?t for the job. The incident prompted one newscaster to remark, “I’ve got to get myself a nurse in Holland.”

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