I can't believe every single one of them seems to think this is either awesome or funny. Is there any other instance where what you wear can be used as an exact reason for your amount of pay? This is disgusting!

On a double standard note, nobody suggests that putting buff shirtless men in cutoffs in a hospital is going to help make *female* patients get better faster.

What the? AND they display those obvious Halloween costume photos like they're some kind of file photos actually related to the story. Mocking journalism as always, thanks Fox.

Gotta love how at first it seemed like they were actually going to seriously consider it as a story and then, surprise! It was all a joke. What? You thought we did journalism here?

Seriously....wtf?! Is there any way, we can contact Fox News and complain about this? This is the most blatant form of sexism ever encountered-more than runway models, I think! Even the female in the group thought that women should "flaunt" their "good parts" Whatever you stupid bitch...I just cannot believe what I just heard-it makes me so mad!

i'm speechless. i don't even know where to start.
*facepalm*

And did you catch the bit where they cited "diversity"? Because, y'know, we liberals are ALL ABOUT diversity. Just that word makes us jump on a bandwagon.

Full of hate for Faux News.

Wow, what worse is the women who are agreeing/laughing at this....

Must.... Not.... Punch... Monitor.....

Perhaps if Fox had a dress code that made the boys (and they are definitely still only boys in that clip) wear hot pants and tight tops in order to get their full paycheck, they might have a different sense of humor. And don't you hate the way some women enable the jerks on camera.

I still remember when Ronald Reagan's Secretary of the Interior ordered all the women in his office to wear skirts or dresses. Fortunately, enough women there stood up to him to get that changed, but I have wondered if standing up to him had an effect on their job, either in assignments or in promotions.

Since I've never seen this show, I don't know whether or not they take a South Park like philosophical commitment to the idea that everything is an acceptable target for ridicule. This being Fox, though, they're probably just sexist.

And worse, they're not even funny.

I in no way want to defend their questionable sense of humour, but...

Redeye on Fox News is a Late Night Talk Show that airs at 2am, it is in no way a normal news show, it's "entertainment". The host is a former Maxim editor.

And man, I hope that clinic gets the wind knocked out of it in court. It sounds like the government is backing the nurses, so chances are good.

If I seriously had any hope left in this world, which I like to think I did, it just died after watching that clip.

I don't even know what to say anymore. I just want to curl up in a ball.

Wait, I do know what to say.

"FUCK YOU!"

Ah, much better.

I wonder how this woman who is so concerned with how miniskirts will magically cure all disease would feel if I suggested she should go become a stripper in a local hospital because it would be sure to get all the patients out of their beds! Nothing cures cancer like some tna...right? And you know, patients in the hospital might be women, or *gasp* gay *gasp*, so those two men should go do some full frontal stage humping! It's all in the name of patients health, so their personal comfort shouldn't matter in the least!

And the best parts? "...especially the latina women, they have big BUTTS, you know?" And the drawing of a women's body with boobs, and slinky dress, and a UNICORN head. Yeah, because a horse with a woman's body who is completely subservient IS just a sick fantasy on paper, you asshole.

OK, 24-news channels have got to go. I'm all for staying informed, but this is the monster we have created -- networks filling time with comedy, innuendo, base editorials and inflammatory BS.

CSPAN gets a pass.

^ I meant 24-HOUR news channels.

Its great how she goes off about Latina women having big butts, while the hospital in question is in Spain.

RoseColoredGlasses, I just e-mailed them at redeye@forxnews.com and I gave them a piece of my mind.
Hope a lot of people do as well so they can do what's right and at least apologize for their ignorant, sexist comments.

Here's what I wrote to them:
Dear Redeye,
I realize your show is about "news" insofar as much as the segment on SNL is about "news", but that bit on the nurses in Spain and the resultant commentary was disgusting bullshit. Do you have any idea that half of what your commentators said was both racist and sexist? Perpetuating the stereotype of the "sexy nurse" and then calling these Spanish nurses ugly, with "big hands and bad breath" was fucking insulting to the profession. Do the other half of America who isn't white and male a favor, and get new jobs if the only way you can be funny is by reverting to racism and sexism to get some yuks. Disgusting, but what else should we expect from the network that brought us Bill O'Reilly and his sexist bullshit?

spacevalkyrie - I know! I don't even know where to begin with this. (a) Latina women all have big butts (b) Latinas live in Spain??

And then the Unicorn was named Laquisha or something like that?

Racist AND sexist - can't have one without the other, huh?

I cannot believe they actually allowed this to aired. The most horrifying part was when the young lady was saying how every woman no matter what size should feel sexy. Because every nurse dreams of being a man's wet dream. They obviously would not choose their career because they want to save lives. And my jaw literally dropped when she said. Especially the latino women because they have big butts. Um. In the words of my wonderful friend Bianca, No bitch!.

Where do we contact them? Please share. I would love to send these assholes a piece of my mind.

It's really confusing when you see this crap pulled off the network like this. I'm guessing it's some stupid show that airs on the Fox News Network? Because when you see it like this, it's looks like this is actually meant to be part of the news? I don't think a new network should run "comedy" shows. Jon Steward and Steven Colbert are on Comedy Central, not CNN.

It took a lot of restraint not to strangle my monitor while watching that.

On another note, is that even sanitary? Comfort issues aside, if I was in a hospital or medical clinic, I'd want my legs covered, due to, you know, the body fluids and such that nurses have to deal with, dropped needles, sharp things, etc. I thought that was most of the point behind wearing scrubs or nursing pants to begin with.

Sexist AND potentially dangerous...2 for 1 special!

It's so hard for me to believe that FOX simply doesn't understand what's wrong with this. They must get that they are saying that if women can't do their jobs AND be sexy (in a male defined way) at the same time they are professionally irrelevant. What they are essentially saying to nurses is: "Who cares if you saved my life or eased my pain, your hands are big and you have bad breath." I can imagine that their standard response to any objections to this crap is claiming that they don't see what's so bad about it. They must know and just not care...

oh, I hope those TV people don't have to go to the hospital anytime soon ... because if I was a nurse, I'd have to try at least six or seven times to get and IV in...

It's probably for the best that I'm not in the medical field.

Oh good lord! I was expecting something terrible, but this is even worse than I could imagine. Is this a news show? It seems more like the filler on an extreme sports clip show. Just tacky, moronic, and juvenile.

If the objectification and oppression of women cured disease, there wouldn't be a need for any hospitals at all, let alone "sexy" or "pirate" ones.

@Cedar & Lizriz You're right it's not a news show. It's a Late Night Talk Show that airs at 2am on the Foxs News channel.

this disgusts me..anyone with any bit of sense or humanity in them could see how awful and hateful and ignorant that clip was...

there almost aren't even words to react with.

Pickleberry, I am a nurse, so I can speak to your question about sanitation, there's more too; this is about to get wordy.

I can't count the number of times I've spilled bodily fluids on myself, and had to change my pant and scrub my legs off. I can't imagine having that hit my bare skin.

There are other issues too. Ever responded to a cardiac arrest in a skirt? What about jumping on a stretcher to do chest compressions? Or just bending over a patient to empty or flush a surgical drain or assess a gaping abdominal wound for signs of infection?

So much of nursing is bending, stooping, and general awkward positioning that just doesn't facilitate keeping your legs closed and your ass covered in a skirt.

And, as an aside, I have to wonder about the male nurses.

Not to mention that with the amount of sexual harrassment nurses experience at the hads drunk, confused or just plain creepy patients (I've had my hand taken and placed directly on a patient's crotch, had my breasts grabbed by confused patients, and a collegue had her FACE LICKED by a drunk), I certainly wouldn't want my legs exposed (not victim blaming, I just don't want these creepy people looking at my bare legs or trying to get a glimpse up my skirt).

At the risk of sounding cliche, I think nursing is the greatest job in the world; we save lives and help people live with chronic conditions. That's why this treatment of our profession bothers me so much. Our work is important; we need to be able to dress to do our job.

And the coverage of this is so shallow. Nurses do so much more to help people than stand there and look pretty. We provide all the monitoring and patient care and we are the first line of defense against negative outcomes. To see our strong clinical knowledge base and skill set reduced to a pair of legs in a skirt makes me want to puke, and this is only one glaring example of that.

I meant "at the hands of drunk" not "hads of"

Woops.

I am so disgusted by this story and by Fox News's response. Laughing at it? Displaying those sexist "nurse" images? This is appalling. What's even worse are the women I heard laughing at it. Who in the world watches Fox News?

How the hell did these people get on tv?!

I worked at a clinic in the UK for a while where the support staff was all required to wear skirts because it "looked smarter". The woman who complained was considered a trouble-maker - see, it wasn't a SEXISM! issue, oh no, just because all the support staff were female. It was a DRESS CODE! issue! How silly of her.

$60 is more than enough to make or break someone in dire straights. Not only are the uniforms sexist but the economic manipulation is deplorable and nothing to snicker about. Sexist, classist bull.

At the very least it's satisfying to see an idiot make an even bigger idiot of himself, like attempting to belittle everyone who would be rightfully disgusted with him and his puerile show, while unable to properly conjugate the word "offend." "Oh, I'm so offensive!" That's right, Charm School, you are.

spacevalkyrie: Its great how she goes off about Latina women having big butts, while the hospital in question is in Spain.

I thought that same thing. I thought a lot of other things too, but mainly just wanted to throw my goddamn computer out the window.

I find it interesting that so many people think the only appropriate response to a ludicrous policy must be a dour and serious one. Sarcasm? Parody? Can't have any of that, now can we!

On a related note, I think it's about time somebody did an exposé on theOnion.com reporting practices. Those people just aren't serious enough!

ugh this made me so mad i couldnt even watch the whole thing.

The Fox show is a joke, and meant to be so, so that really doesn’t bother me. The policy at the hospital, however, does. Nurses deal with some pretty dangerous and disgusting work conditions. Requiring them to work with bare legs is ludicrous.

Melissa R.
Thank you for sharing your experience. I really helps to put this silliness of the proposed dress code in perspective.

To entropy and the others who say, "It's a joke," I say, "No, it ISN'T." One, the definition of a joke is to be funny, and this wasn't. Two, it might pass for satire if they were actually poking fun of the double standard. But no, each and every one of them went for the "hot nurse" stereotype without trying to make a subversive attempt a humor. So let's see:
Funny: "Nothing sexier than short skirts and bedpans! What a combo!"
Not funny: "Who wants to see women with bad breath and big hands in short skirts?"
See the difference?
Finally, can't get beyond the blatant racism and sexism here. Some things should not be fodder for "comedy." Call me a prude, I don't care. We need to evolve beyond Jr. high humor.

OMFG...that is SO disgusting. And the part where that one woman was saying that all women should wear something that makes them feel sexy and that all latinas should want to show off their big butts? FUCK...this makes me feel so stabby.

Speechless as well! OMG! Sickening!!!

Man, my heart goes out to the woman in brown that was on the split-screen. Did you see how hard she was fighting to smile through that bullshit? She even lost it when the camera went off her; you never see that on TV. The woman in black seemed to be pushing it too; none of her laughter sounded authentic.

It's just extra miserable to see women being forced to endorse sexist bullshit while discussing other forced sexist bullshit. Obviously these girls are complicit in this clip--the nice little racist tidbit was an original contribution--but you have to wonder what other options are open to the Fox News women besides smiling and taking it. I mean, I don't know what else can be done besides making obviously stupid remarks about costume diversity and wearing a big smile. I don't know if I personally would be strong enough to stand up against 4 laughing people on TV and say "hey, that's not funny and you're a bigot." Especially if I knew that they would just ridicule me next and that it would be immediately uploaded on YouTube.

The whole thing sucks for everyone. I think this clip is a great summary of just how fucked-up it is to be a woman. You don't win if you resist and you don't win if you collaborate. In every fucking case you are reduced from a human being to a collection of objectionable and desirable body parts.

"Some things should not be fodder for "comedy." Call me a prude, I don't care. We need to evolve beyond Jr. high humor."

I disagree completely. I want you to picture the sort of person that created and perpetuates the skirt policy at that hospital. If hundreds of enraged feminist write him angry protest letters he's just going to think it's funny. However, if his hospital becomes the subject of international ridicule he just might consider changing that policy.

Humor is a valid tool of protest. Even filtered through the immature, exploitationist mentality of Fox, it's a hundred times more effective than the dignified outrage of everyone posting on this stuffy board.

Ignore humor at your own peril.

Just in case I need to clarify: "red lips and flashy tits" is like the national costume of the Fox News Channel.

I'd also like to concur that humor is indeed one of the best "correctional" tools. One of the first things taught in any theater course is that melodrama is the most conservative of genres and humor is the most subversive. This is because melodrama relies on maintaining the status quo while humor relies on undermining it. Unfortunately, humor is a knife that cuts both ways and works to undermine pretty much everything. So watch your drama lest the humorists eat you alive! (Sorry, couldn't resist the construct.)

Stunned. Speechless.

entropy: "Humor is a valid tool of protest. Even filtered through the immature, exploitationist mentality of Fox, it's a hundred times more effective than the dignified outrage of everyone posting on this stuffy board."

Yes, humor can be a good and effective tool. However, what do you think the message of these FOX presenters is? I don't think they understand the story they're mocking -- the essential misogyny of the policy -- well enough to really be engaging it on any meaningful level. They're certainly not making the "hospital [...] the subject of international ridicule," at least not intentionally. And if they can't understand the subject of their own supposed political humor, that's not remotely "effective." "Redeye" is merely using this story to propagate even more ignorance and hatred.

Yes, maybe this story could have been handled in a way that was both humorous and an effective protest, but that video sure ain't it.

Is this Fox's answer to Colbert? Seems about par for the course for FauxPas Network. Outrageous, and not in a good way.

I can't really believe that this whole humor debate is happening--this was NOT subversive humor. The Redeye will not contribute to "International Ridicule." there is a big difference between satire and making light of something--both tend to fall under the "humor" category but they do very different things.
What kept coming to mind is the difference between The Chapelle Show and Mind of Mencia--The Chapelle Show was subversive, was meant to use offensive and contraversial topics to point the finger at the problems of society at large. When Dave Chapelle realized that much of the population watched that show and didn't pick up on it's subversive quality, he quit. Comedy Central replaced the show with piece of shit Carlos Mencia, who is offensive for the sake of being offensive, and makes no comment on society as a whole, he just gives white people permission to laugh at the stuff that isn't "PC" for them to say out loud because they are white.
The way I see it, everything can be broken down as such: what it is, and what it actually is. there is always subtext, whether that is acknowledged or not. the subtext on this particular show is sexist and racist, and the subtext is denied by those participating--thus the "feminists have no sense of humor" stereotype--but satire is so effective because it acknowledges subtext and utilizes it in a subversive way.
wordy way to say, theres a fucking big difference.

What kept coming to mind is the difference between The Chapelle Show and Mind of Mencia--The Chapelle Show was subversive, was meant to use offensive and contraversial topics to point the finger at the problems of society at large. When Dave Chapelle realized that much of the population watched that show and didn't pick up on it's subversive quality, he quit. Comedy Central replaced the show with piece of shit Carlos Mencia, who is offensive for the sake of being offensive, and makes no comment on society as a whole, he just gives white people permission to laugh at the stuff that isn't "PC" for them to say out loud because they are white.

Thank you for articulating this. This is exactly what I had more or less come up with after I stopped watching Mind of Mencia after the second episode. You certainly can't say Comedy Central don't listen to their audience: Dave Chappelle quit because a lot of white people who watched him missed the layer of his humour that was making fun of the stereotype rather than the people, so they replaced him with someone who eliminates the additional layer entirely.

While there is certainly room to criticize the content of the segment posted, let me ask you one question:

How many of you were aware of this hospital's skirt policy *before* Fox "reported" it?

Furthermore, what do you think will have a greater impact on the management, employees, and patients of that hospital. Will it be Fox's "deplorable" coverage or by the laudable, serious discourse in these comments.

Furthermore, what do you think will have a greater impact on the management, employees, and patients of that hospital. Will it be Fox's "deplorable" coverage or by the laudable, serious discourse in these comments.

Well, since you aren't distinguishing between positive and negative impact, I would have to say the Fox "report".

Hi, I'm a Spanish reader. If you want to see the uniform the nurses are protesting, you can check it here at the Diario de Sevilla or here in Diario Sur. It's not pornish, it's just 50 years out of date and horribly impractical.

The clinic has no leg to stand on, nurses nowadays are very qualified (it's a college titulation over here) and they don't have to take this kind of shit from anyone. Now that this case has gotten attention from the Ministry of Work and the clinic has backpedalled (last I heard, they were returning the money they had fined the scrubs-wearing nurses), it's on the way to being fixed.

For those who don't speak Spanish, a brief summary of one of the articles. Nurses are being docked 30 euros from their pay for wearing scrub trousers rather than skirts. The nurses have been protesting publicly, and intend to resort to litigation on the basis of violation of SPain's Equality Act (Ley de Igualdad) if the employer does not change its policy. The director of the hospital says he is unfamiliar with the requirements of the Equality Act (coulda fooled me there) and that, if they want the rule changed, they'll have to take him to court. The quote is such fuckwittage that I must share it in full text:

When an employee "repeatedly violates the dress code, there will be an amount that will not be paid". I do always love it when guys try to make showing them a little leg a question of moral rectitude.

The representative of the nurses notes that the rules say nothing about skirts/trousers, so there isn't even a rule to "violate".

Red Eye:

I am very disappointed that a news show would air a segment about discrimination in the workforce in Spain's hospitals, then procede to miss the point completely. If you can't present the issues of human rights without making light of the situation, please don't even approach the topic at all. I would like to see a change in the attitude of this show, if not a formal apology to the nurses of Spain and discrimintated workers everywhere. If the Fox News channel can't present news without a degree of empathy and respect, then perhaps it should change it's name to the Fox Entertainment Channel.

Andrea Semler

Entropy:
You seem to be arguing that any attention such an issue gets, regardless of its damaging nature, is good attention.
You also seem to be implying that the way Fox News made light of the issue is the ONLY way to make light of it--there are definitely ways to report on the issue in a humorous, satirical way that maintains a sensitive awareness of those involved.
Fox News made the nurses the joke without a hint of irony rather than those in charge of the policy. And they weren't even clever or funny.
the choices are not either totally serious, somber coverage, OR Fox News mockery and you know very well its not that two-sided and simplistic.

I give up. There is absolutely no way Fox could have pleased all of you. They raised awareness of an issue that you yourselves were probably unaware of, but they're the sexist pigs because they didn't do so in a manner you approved of.

Maybe the media should just ignore feminist issues completely so they won't risk offending feminists? Wouldn't that be a step forward!

Maybe the media should just ignore feminist issues completely so they won't risk offending feminists? Wouldn't that be a step forward!

Actually, that's more or less where we are now.

Re: "Any attention is good attention." When you have a business model and a core audience like Fox's (and we know this doesn't include on-air readings of Simone de Beauvoir), negative attention from the people you don't intend to reach is DEFINITELY good attention... especially when we're elevating a nothing show in a shit time slot with no viewership [See also: the movie Dogma and the attempted boycott by Catholics].

Hell, they'll probably turn the letters into another 2-3 shows worth of material. I'd suggest saving it for incidents you're actually disappointed by and for a host/show/company/product you thought you could actually influence.

Maybe it is because I have a light-hearted way of viewing at things. But I think there is more negative emotions directed at the show and network than is warranted. Red Eye brought up the story because they thought the rule was silly enough to make some jokes off of. In my opinion, they were making fun of how stupid it is to have that kind of rule.

Red Eye is a comedy show first and a news show second. *Of course* they are going to be making fun of stuff. Don't let your hatred of Fox News cloud your judgement.

"Red Eye brought up the story because they thought the rule was silly enough to make some jokes off of."

I think the problem many of us are having with this sort of comedy is that Red Eye doesn't seem to be ridiculing the rule, but instead taking this opportunity to reinforce the sort of bullshit that led to it. I don't detect much (actually, any) understanding of the nurses' perspective at all. I mean, making insulting generalizations about how unattractive nurses are? There was plenty of material in the hospital's policy without having to resort to this immature, sexist claptrap.

"There is absolutely no way Fox could have pleased all of you."

Yes, FOX would generally have a hard time pleasing most of the posters here. However, this story could have been turned into decent political comedy if only the commentators recognizing what was ACTUALLY absurd about it -- it's not that female nurses are apparently too ugly to wear miniskirts!

I am so shocked. Im a nursing student and I find this extremely offensive. Nursing is a tough profession and we're not just eye candy. That dark haired girl is an idiot on so many levels.

I am so shocked. Im a nursing student and I find this extremely offensive. Nursing is a tough profession and we're not just eye candy. That dark haired girl is an idiot on so many levels.

Making fun of the perpetrators of an injustice can be funny and informative, if done correctly. Making fun of the victims of an injustice usually isn't funny. It's disrespectful and reinforces the ideas which led to the injustice in the first place. That's why this story doesn't amuse anyone who has any respect for nurses or for women.

"And the coverage of this is so shallow. Nurses do so much more to help people than stand there and look pretty. We provide all the monitoring and patient care and we are the first line of defense against negative outcomes. To see our strong clinical knowledge base and skill set reduced to a pair of legs in a skirt makes me want to puke, and this is only one glaring example of that."

thank you teamkate. as a fellow rn, i totally agree.