J T wrote:Opa Opa, I don't know too much about nursing, but certainly having worked in a leading trauma hospital last year, I can tell you that when helping a person recover in rehab after a debilitating accident, you certainly need to move them a lot and the heavier they are, the more physical strength that requires. Several of the nurses on the rehab floor were real beefy dudes. Thankfully, these guys were also really sweet and compassionate, which are typically more feminine qualities that often are traded off for the brute strength required to move some of the more obese patients. Keep in mind that when a person has a spinal cord injury that makes it so they can't move, that can last a lifetime and they obviously aren't getting much physical exercise, so obesity is usually a problem. It is unfortunate for the females nurses though, unless they are pretty strong.
On a related note, in my field of psychology, I strangely have a slight advantage as a male because I'm actually a minority amongst clinical psychologists. Most of the practitioners in my field are female, so some places are quite happy to have a male psychologist around. I feel a certain sort of guilt about this because I have the straight-white-male-majority advantage in most aspects of life, then I get the minority boost within my profession. It's not particularly fair, but it's also hard to say no to someone giving you a job, even when you are aware of your privilege. Keep in mind though, I'm also highly qualified, so it's not like I don't deserve to be hired regardless of gender, but it still seems weird to think that a straight white guy would still be getting any special treatment for being a minority.
Thanks for the response, J T.
Yeah, some patients can't help their condition sometimes. Not every situation allows for regular exercise, unfortunately.
I think what the professor was more or less referring to was the general, unhealthy lifestyle that a lot of the American populace lives (e.g. poor diet choices, inert lifestyle, etc). People that
are able to make the right choices but don't are really making a hard job even more difficult.
It's interesting that you're in the minority of your field. If you don't mind my asking, what is it in your line of work that draws so few men? (or so many women?)
(Feel free to not answer if you can't/don't want to talk about your work!)
