ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how nurses and nursing have been portrayed in the news, on television, in films and online. The most enduring stereotypes of nursing are one-dimensional notions of femininity – the angel, the handmaiden, the harlot, and the battle-axe. The most common vision of nursing well into the twentieth century was angel of mercy, an image that often carried a maternal tinge. After World War II, nurses tended to be presented as deferential assistants of expert physicians. Perhaps the most common stereotype of nursing is that nurses lack significant skills. Nursing is an autonomous profession with its own scientific basis and scope of practice, but the view that nurses exist mainly to serve physicians – that they are 'handmaidens' – is widely held. Linking a predominantly female profession to workplace sexuality undermines respect for nursing roles, skills and education. This leads to fewer resources for nursing practice; encourages sexual abuse, which studies show nurses experience at unusually high levels.
