Nurse Outfits for Kids

[Stu]

I participate in a chat forum for patients and practitioners set up by my local hospital trust. When looking on the nurses' page, I saw someone being congratulated for passing the latter part of her nurse's program and that means she can exchange her grey "Student Nurse" dress for a lilac "staff nurse" one next month. She mentioned that she had promised to make her 8-year-old daughter one to match to play dress up. Someone else commented that Amazon sells kids' nurse outfits for girls only, but her son would have to make do with a doctor kit like scrubs. In other words, the nurse's outfits were dresses and therefore they were only for girls. I felt like adding that the idea of play was make-believe and there was nothing to stop a boy from wearing the nurse's dress if he liked one - but he probably wouldn't dare as he would risk rebuke or humiliation. Nobody says that about girls wearing firemen costumes.

[Barleymower]

It feels like being anti-trans is one of the last prejudice’s it’s ‘ok’ to have becuase that's what it's really all about isn't it?

[Stu]

I'm not sure I would say it's anti-trans. It's more a case of boys don't wear dresses. I think boys should wear dresses if they want, but they don't generally, and male nurses don't wear uniform dresses like their female counterparts, so I get the point.

[Barleymower]

I'm not sure I would say it's anti-trans. It's more a case of boys don't wear dresses. I think boys should wear dresses if they want, but they don't generally, and male nurses don't wear uniform dresses like their female counterparts, so I get the point.

OK point taken.
There is generally recoil here when the 'T' word is mention. There is an immediate distancing from the trans community. We are MIS afterall definitely not trans. I get that. No need to say more.

The trouble as I see it for acceptance for MIS is wrapped around the trans debate. Trans people form 1% of the population but they are taking huge amounts of prejudice. One of the risks that is currently peddled is that they act as women to gain access to female spaces. If a man is going to attack a women he doesn't need to dress up to do it. So it must be something else. It's more about men occupying female spaces. Why it is so terrible that men should not occupy female spaces is beyond me. I'm not talking about modestly I'm talking about space in society (if that makes sense).
MIS are attempting to occupy female space and that's why MIS and trans women are inextricably linked. If it were just about a piece of cloth it, nobody would care.

The good is there are women and men out there who are more open minded. They do not see trans or MIS as a threat. It's a small powerful minority that is causing the problem. Genuine MIS are helping everyone open their minds and this is healthy for everyone.

[Stu]

MIS are attempting to occupy female space and that's why MIS and trans women are inextricably linked. If it were just about a piece of cloth it, nobody would care.

I have no issues with trans people. I have taught many trans students at my university and they were generally like everybody else - and some stick in my mind as real characters with a sense of humour.

I do understand why the MIS crowd don't want their cause to be conflated with trans interests. There are several reasons for this and the first is that while MIS people like me want to dispel the idea that skirts=female - thereby to open up possibilities for men to regard skirts as a masculine option just as women can wear trousers to accentuate their curves and look feminine. Trans women, however, use skirts as signifiers that they are women and not men - they are expressing femininity. That's the precise opposite.

[DrFishnets]

I thought female nurses wearing dresses as part of their uniform was a thing of the past and they all wore scrubs and trousers nowadays.

[Mouse]

I thought female nurses wearing dresses as part of their uniform was a thing of the past and they all wore scrubs and trousers nowadays.

My son's girlfriend is a district nurse and she has the option between dress or top/trousers. She has chosen mostly dresses, because she says they are more comfortable. I think my son has found a smart woman.

[Barleymower]

Stu, I think we are nearly in agreement. I do not agree that the trans community wear skirts as a signifier that they are women. As women largely don't wear skirts, then the trans person would more likely try to emulate their female counterparts with makeup, wigs and probably leggings rather than a skirt.

I think we just need to stick with it and proudly display our bald heads and beards. As for the nurses uniforms, it's important to challenge this sort of bigotry when it arises.

[Stu]

I thought female nurses wearing dresses as part of their uniform was a thing of the past and they all wore scrubs and trousers nowadays.

I was in hospital (two hospitals) for an extended stay a few weeks ago and most of the nurses wore dresses.

[DrFishnets]

I thought female nurses wearing dresses as part of their uniform was a thing of the past and they all wore scrubs and trousers nowadays.

I was in hospital (two hospitals) for an extended stay a few weeks ago and most of the nurses wore dresses.

It must be NHS Scotland where the uniform is all tunics, scrubs and trousers now.

[alexthebird]

I thought female nurses wearing dresses as part of their uniform was a thing of the past and they all wore scrubs and trousers nowadays.

I was in hospital (two hospitals) for an extended stay a few weeks ago and most of the nurses wore dresses.

It must be NHS Scotland where the uniform is all tunics, scrubs and trousers now.

I spent the greater part of June, July, and early August in hospitals and a hospice in the US and with the occasional exception of a doctor wearing street clothes under a clinic coat, never saw a single health care worker wearing a dress. It was uniformly scrubs, regardless of the position or station.

[Stu]

This is a recent photo from the last hospital I stayed in and five of the female staff in the image are clearly wearing dresses:



I suspect males would be permitted to wear them as well if they wished, but I am not aware of that happening.

[DrFishnets]

Sadly as confirmed by the link I’ve provided, NHS Scotland’s uniform policy is trousers and tunics. No dresses are permitted. It must be just in England that nurses are still permitted to wear dresses as their uniform. I really miss those days when nurses wore dresses up here in Scotland.

https://www.publications.scot.nhs.uk/fi ... 018-04.pdf

[Fred in Skirts]

When I was growing up all nurses wore either dresses or skirts and tops, all white with maybe a blue stripe some where on them. They also wore caps indicating which school they graduated from, no nurse would even think of not wearing her cap. Even my school nurse wore a white dress and cap. They looked very professional as well. I miss those days!

[Barleymower]

A man could wear the nurses dress but assumptions would be made. He would have to live with that.

If a man can live with that then he's free to do as he pleases.....in principle.