Why don’t women go as ga-ga for Police or EMS? I get the ‘men in uniform’ thing, but it’s VERY different when it comes to FF’s.
All those stories? They’re true! Women hollering at the fire truck as it passes by, flashing, showing up at the hall at 11 p.m. at night in short skirts wanting a ‘tour’ of the fire hall! I laugh now, but I fail to understand. Poor men getting their ego’s stroked.
But I don’t see this with the Police or EMS. Hardly, anyhow, and not to the same level.
Police have the problem that they arrest you, enforce traffic laws and get involved in domestics; EMS aren’t seen as going into danger; firefighters go into burning buildings and rescue people.
When a FF shows up, they’re there to help. Cops are mostly there to fine you and cause stress. EMS don’t have to be muscular as part of the job and they don’t really face danger. You’re forgetting one important class of “men in uniform” that women DO go ga-ga over…the military!
When we have to do road tests on our vehicles for maintenance, we’re always sure to drive by the local sorority houses…but don’t worry, it’s only the ego that gets stroked. Like firemen, we face danger to help people out and defend our nation. That’s why they make so many movies and country songs about us
It’s the masculine thing combined with the selfless “hero” thing. Firefighters are big strong men who care about others. The ultimate female fantasy. Firefighters are to women what strippers are to men. They each represent a sort of sexual ideal. And they both slide down poles.
The reality is never like the ideal, of course, but we’re talking about the sexual attraction of an image, not of real people.
Yeah, I think it’s mostly the combination of the danger/excitement that firefighting implies, the uniform, and the desire a lot of women have to be with a guy who can protect her if needed.
I’d imagine that the presence of criminals may tend to discourage women from dropping by police stations or jails just to hang out and flirt but I’ve got some friends who are trying to get into that line of work and I’ve always heard that women DO chase cops too because of the uniform and the “power” thing.
They’re big, manly, carry people out of burning buildings and give them CPR. What’s not to love?
Fantasies aside, I know the realities that FFers deal with and have a lot of respect for them and what they do for the rest of us. A family friend was a FF and I know how worried his wife was every time he went to work.
Minor disagreement with your opinion, speaking as a FF and former EMT/Paramedic: Would you care to haul Fatty McFatass down from his third floor bedroom with only your partner to help, along will the drug bag, portable monitor, and oxygen rig a few times before saying it takes no strength? How about when the litter won’t fit in the elevator, so stairs are the only option?
As far as danger, I’ve only had to crawl into one inverted, partially submerged automobile to start an IV during the extrication phase, so that wasn’t too bad. Attempting to package an injured family member during a domestic dispute is fun, too, as are the folks who are off their meds and can be suicidal, and the folks who are up for an involuntary commitment to a state facility for section 302 evaluation- they typically walk out to the rig with us, smiling. :rolleyes:
In case you haven’t heard, EMS folks also have to deal with bloodborne pathogens, and unfortunately, sometimes we are scratched, bitten, sneezed, spit, vomited, and bled on.
I’d like to suggest that you ramp up your respect for and understanding of other professions before offering dismissive statements. Just my opinion.
So when the EMTs show up, they’re not there to help? And they don’t have to be muscular as part of their job?
Just today, I hauled a 250-pound man down two flights of stairs on the Stair Chair, helped him onto the lowered stretcher, then I lifted the stretcher up to its raised position and lifted it into the back of the ambulance, and took him to the ER for urgent care for a raging infection in a wound.
Later I took a suicidal young man to a psych hospital and a woman dying of cancer to hospice care.
But I’m not there to help?
I’ve been shot at twice and crawled into the backs of unstable cars to hold traction on people trapped in the wreckage of their mangled cars.
I’ve waded out into a reservior to help look for drowning victims.
I don’t face danger?
Okay, whatever.
danceswithcats, could you not do that? Please? It’s needlessly mean.
See, BiblioCat -
managed to get the point without being mean. It can be done, and it can be done with very little effort. I’d really appreciate it if you’d put in that effort.
Heh. I remember working with a gal that had a thing for EMTs. A bunch came into the restaurant consistently, too. There were a few guy EMTs that she’d get insta-wet over. So, to embarrass her, I’d make her interact with them or make them interact with her.
Her face would get SO red. I’d call her “tomato”. She’d get pissed at me for exactly one second, then get over it and babble about how hot that guy was and how she wanted to pounce him.
Actually, phouka, I thought I was the one being mean and snarky in my earlier post. We refer to “BFPs” (big fat patients) and “PITAs” (Pains in the Ass) all the time in private - and I’ve heard nurses use the same terms. Obviously, I’d never use the terms around a patient, but they get tossed around ERs quite a lot. danceswithcats pointed me to this thread, and I was tired last night from working all day without a break. There was a thread a few months ago that slammed FFs, saying we were all a bunch of dumb macho idiots, and I really hate when people make assumptions.
There are a lot of people who think EMTs are ‘just’ ambulance drivers, but we’re not. We’re dealing with people on what is most likely their very worst day, and we are there to help. I don’t know how someone can say we’re not, or that we don’t face danger. ***You ***(the general you) try crawling into the back of a smashed car to assess a patient or hold traction on someone’s head and neck - a car that’s sitting in a huge pool of gasoline and is teetering back and forth because it hasn’t been stabilized yet, and with traffic whizzing by, because the drivers insist on getting through, regardless of the accident. Try doing it all at 3:00 a.m., in the pouring rain.
I must be in the wrong department. I’ve only been hit on once (and she was waaaaaaay drunk), and been whistled at by an old woman in a nursing home we were called to for a smell of smoke.
And to think, I became a volunteer for the babes and the big bucks
Our dispatcher mentioned ‘frequent flyer’ during a page the other night. I hope she got her weenie wacked real hard for doing that. Half the damned county has a scanner, me included.
but I’ve got some friends who are trying to get into that line of work and I’ve always heard that women DO chase cops too because of the uniform and the “power” thing.