Sexy Professions for Women: Do the Stereotypes Damage the Brand?

OK, now before you go past these words and straight to the pictures, let us explain that this is a serious exercise.

Recently, as we were looking at Playboy for the articles, we happened upon a reader survey that asked which of several fantasy-inducing women’s professions was the sexiest. The results:

1. Cheerleader (42 percent)
2. Nurse (20)
3. French maid (15)
4. Stewardess (12)
5. Woman cop (10)

It occurred to us that this stereotyping is a form of branding: it affects what men — and women — think of the profession. In fact, it almost certainly impacts who enters these careers, the pay scale, job satisfaction, and on and on.

So, being one to have random thoughts after lunch as we scarf down a giant pistachio ice cream cone, we contemplated the positives and negatives of these five stereotypes and whether, on balance, they were a plus or minus for their respective professions.

CHEERLEADER

Adult women don’t step into a cheerleader’s uniform unless they want to be viewed in a sexual context — at least not since Tex Schramm reinvented the profession in 1972. As Camille Paglia writes, “In my youth, the blond cheerleader occupied the glittering apex of the high-school social pyramid. It seemed that feminism might sweep her away, but no, she went professional in a big way with the Dallas Cowboys at their 1970s, Roger Staubach-era height … Only retrograde Dworkinite prudes could fail to see that the cheerleader’s sassy physicality is itself a product of modern women’s liberation … [T]he boob-shimmying, tail-wagging, crotch-baring cheerleader doing her jumps and splits is a prime example of what I call pagan exhibitionism, a sacred, life-affirming, sensual principle that Judeo-Christianity has never been able to bury. Her vibrating, multicolored pompoms are the spring flowers of the goddess, breeze-blown promises of eternal fertility (see Botticelli’s “Primavera”). Like manic dandelions, they tickle and they flail, whipping up the masses into Dionysian enthousiasmos, a frenzied state of can-do ecstasy that ignites the team to victory.”

Hear, hear.

Stereotype Impact Index: POSITIVE

NURSE

This is actually a very serious issue for the Center for Nursing Advocacy, which believes that “linking sexual images so closely to the profession of nursing — to even the fantasy idea that working nurses are sexually available to patients … continue[s] to discourage practicing and potential nurses, foster sexual violence in the workplace, and contribute to a general atmosphere of disrespect. Desexualizing the nursing image is a key part of building the strength the profession needs to overcome the current shortage, which threatens lives worldwide, and to meet the challenges of 21st Century health care …

“Naughty nurse and other stereotypical images add to the chronic underfunding of nursing research, education and clinical practice. This is because health care decision makers–many of whom are sadly uninformed about what nursing really is–are less likely to devote scarce resources to a profession that has become so degraded in the public consciousness.”

OK — maybe the Center for Nursing Advocacy is a little hardcore (sorry, poor choice of words.) But they do make some good points.

Stereotype Impact Index: NEGATIVE

FRENCH MAID

Since we only come across French maids at Dallas Halloween parties, we’ll throw in au pairs and exchange students as an extension of the French maid brand. And in the U.S., at least, the stereotypes may contribute to the dangers facing young women coming here from abroad, which are documented on the Committee for Safety of Foreign Exchange Students’ Web site.

Stereotype Impact Index: NEGATIVE

STEWARDESS

Of course, the problems here start with the job title itself; it’s “flight attendant” now. As Wikipedia explains, “Particularly in the 1960s and 1970s, the airlines [advertised] the attractiveness and friendliness of their “stewardesses.” National Airlines used pictures of attractive stewardesses with captions like “I’m Kristin. Fly me.” Another airline, Braniff Airways, had them changing clothes during the flight, wearing one garment while greeting passengers and another for serving meals. In advertisements, this practice was called the “air strip,” and was advertised with suggestive music. A policy of at least one airline required that only unmarried women could be flight attendants, and airlines often fired attendants that were deemed too old or unattractive.” By the 80s, this go-go era of the “sexy stewardess” had come to a close, as the NLRB and flight attendant unions brought an end to age limits, size limits, and limitations on marriage and pregnancy.

Earlier this year, Hooters Air — an ambitious attempt to revive the days of the sexy stewardess – announced its defeat.

So really, all that’s left of this once harmful stereotype is the lingering perception that flight attendants are fun-loving and attractive. Since most attendants entering the profession remain young, single and looking for adventure, such associations aren’t necessarily a bad thing.

Stereotype Impact Index: NEUTRAL

WOMAN COP

The “sexy lady cop” stereotype is a little different from the rest; the others play off roles men associate — or at least used to associate — with women, such as (1) cheering us on, (2) caring for us when we’re sick, (3) cleaning the house, and (4) bringing us very small bags of peanuts. The lady cop stereotype, by contrast, plays to men’s submissive side.

But it’s certainly a hassle that real women cops don’t need. Alone among the professions we’re discussing here, law enforcement is male-dominated; women have fought for years to earn equal treatment and respect. As one recent study concludes, “Women police officers continue to face career barriers in the form of discrimination, negative stereotyping and sexual harassment.”

Stereotype Impact Index: NEGATIVE

(Pics from — where else? — Costume World.)

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