This compilation of clips from popular television shows and movies all point out one thing – that being a nurse is a laughable profession for a male to have. Indeed, male nurses are coded in media as a joke, as necessarily homosexual, and as overall failures.

discussion

How do some professions become coded as “masculine” and others as “feminine”? Why do media productions consistently joke about male nurses? Are male nurses really all that uncommon?

Can you think of other professions with strong gendered associations? Have any of these changed over time?