I work with several nurses… and all are decidedly non-sexy.
Two nurses and a doctor in my family. Offhand, I can’t remember seeing even one sexy nurse, ever. A few receptionists and clerks, but not nurses. And the polyester pant suit uniforms nurses have been wearing the last thirty or so years have been utterly utilitarian.
My ex-wife is a nurse. She used to say exactly that in exactly those words. I kinda have to agree.
ETA: also, my mom’s a nurse and there’s no end to the weirdness of that woman. 
While we are on the subject of nurse uniforms (sort of) why are the white shoes the last holdout of the white uniform? Around here all the hospitals require white or mostly white shoes. What possible difference could it make if I wore blue running shoes to match my blue scrubs?
To change the subject slightly, what do healthcare workers in other countries wear? Have scrubs taken over the world?
Traditional nurses’ uniforms in Thailand, and often with high heels! (Thai girls look exceptionally sexy in nurses’ uniforms and high heels. Rowr!) Standard white in government hospitals, but the color of the uniform may differ in the private hospitals. BNH Hospital’s nurses all wore white the last I looked, but the ones at Samitivej Hospital have a green uniform.
:dubious: What hospital did you go too?
@Cyn and Sheba: there is also that line health care (and other professions) draw, i.e. don’t get attached to your patients. That kind of makes deliberately attracting patients via your mode of dress or interacting with them on a more personal level unacceptable.
Of course, once they get out of the hospital…
WAG but I’d suspect the white uniforms arose from practical concerns:
reassuring patients that conditions are sterile, safe, and letting the health care provider know if they’ve gotten blood etc. on them in the course of the day. I.e. pathogens could be carried to the provider and/or other patients.
This actually makes me a little sick to my stomach. Those nurses must be suffering horrible foot problems. What’s fun as a fantasy turns out in reality to be kind of icky…
White shoes convey an aura of cleanliness. Having seen nurses wearing black shoes with scrubs, I can say that it is jarring and also looks well, dirty. I’ve seen nurses wearing brightly colored Crocs as well, but they just look like they came to work on the short bus. YMMV. 
The photo with the whites and pin isn’t available per photobucket. I’m sure you don’t scare folks, though. Most pts LIKE whites.
I’m not sure if high heels are actually required, as many nurses don’t wear them. It seems to be a personal preference. As long as the shoe is white, that’s all that seems to matter. But Thai ladies will wear high heels in the most mundane of everyday circumstances. I don’t know if it’s because of the sexiness factor or it makes them taller or what, but they’ll wear them on just about any occasion, even a stroll through the park.
But if the thought of that makes you queasy, I think I’ll keep quiet about the local brothels that feature nurses’ uniforms.
I’m hardly likely to get queasy over a stupid male fantasy I’ve fought against my entire professional career. I certainly don’t want to stand in the way of your pleasure.
Those Thai nurses are not acting in their best interests, most likely due to societal or cultural pressures, but I’ll keep quiet about my thoughts regarding that.
too late
Heh. (and I think you’d look sexy in high heels[men look great in 'em, too]–why don’t you wear them to work so we can all enjoy your podiatrist’s wet dream?)
Because I don’t want to. See, I’m 46 and I have plantar fasciitis, so I choose to wear running shoes. But somehow, I feel that if I chose to wear high heels, you’d hold me to a higher standard of responsibility for my choice than you hold those Thai nurses, and I’ll bet you don’t know them any better than you know me.
The last person who should wear high heels at work is a nurse. Nurses are on their feet all the time, and nursing is extremely hard, physical work.
And I don’t see why a nurse would want to seem “sexy” at work. Half the patients are females, anyway. (And I don’t think a male nurse would want to seem sexy either.) A hospital is full of a bunch of sick people.
“Nurse” to m will always be Mrs. Mayhew, who was my peditrician’s nurse when I was a littel boy. Starched cap, white uniform, white shoes, white hose. She was as no-nonense and starched as her cap. No smiles, no warm-and-fuzzes (something a little kid who is about to get a shot might like), nothing to connect with. I was petrified of her.
On a warm note, on my parents 50th wedding anniversary my brothers and I threw them a big party. A cousing came and signed the guest book saying “Uncle Robert and Aunt Shirley came to watch me receive my cap when I graduated nursing school - I’ll always remember thinking how great it was they were there for such an important day in my life.”
Over here it’s a cultural thing. Even many of the girls who are virginal will often try to look as sexy as they can. I’m telling ya, just walking down the street here provides a world of pleasure.
It’s not just over there. Go to any high school in L.A. (However, no, they don’t wear high heels.) But work is work.
By the way, how do you know they’re virginal? When they introduce themselves, do they say, “Hello, my name is ____________, and I’m a virgin. But don’t you love my high heels?”
Huh? If you chose to wear high heels to work (and you are a nurse), all I’d think is that you’re stupid. I suppose I should have just said that re the Thai nurses as well. My bad. They are responsible for their choices as well, but there may be more at work there then we are aware of due to cultural differences.
Me, I’ve got a bone spur and varicose veins–nursing is hard on the legs. I don’t wear high heels, period (never did–don’t like them).
You might also think that he’s a cross-dresser. Outlierrn is a man.
I’ve know quite a few girls here who I’d be surprised had ever been kissed, let alone done the nasty. But they, too, often like to dress themselves up in maddeningly suggestive ways. Not everyone, but many.
Do you remember the Arnold Schwarzenegger film Last Action Hero? The kid and Arnie are in a video-rental store, and all of the staff are ladies who look like they belong in a soft-porn movie? And the kid tries to convince Arnie that this IS a film and not real life, because these girls are too attractive to be working in a video-rental store? And Arnie lecherously agrees that yes, these ladies ARE in fact too attractive to be working in a video-rental store? Thailand is a lot like that.