A recent letter from a male nurse describing his experience of being forced to wear female underwear was most interesting.  The girls who did this to him and his roommate were absolutely right. For some time now I have been concerned over the appearance of my malenurses.  Most uniform trousers are not opaque enough to camouflage the fly fronts of men's jockey briefs.  Bikini briefs look just as ridiculousbecause the low waistbands are frequently visible below the jacket half of the uniform.  In addition, so many male nurses seem to insist on wearingugly cotton t-shirts under their uniform tops.  This strikes me as not unlike a woman who allows her slip to show.  Equally-awful, as far as I'mconcerned, are those ugly, bulky athletic socks that men have taken to wearing.  They are never laundered completely white.

The whole subject came to a head several months ago when I went to hospital unexpectedly while visiting my parents.  One of the nurses caring for me wasan extremely competent, tall, good-looking male of about twenty five.  In addition to his remarkable personal attributes, Danny's appearance in hisspotless uniform was nothing less than stunning.  I tried to work out just what it was about him that distinguished him from his counterparts.First of all, there was no ugly t-shirt visible at his neckline, only smooth hairless skin with a beautiful plain gold chain around his neck.  Mostinteresting was the fact that his polyester uniform pants had no fly down the front, only a single seam.  Most surprising of all was the fact thatthere was no visual evidence showing through his trousers of any fly front on his briefs.  This left me extremely curious.

However, my curiosity was short-lived.  A day or two later Danny had to stoop over to clean up the mess I had accidentally made by knocking over my water glass.  As he bent over, his uniform top rode up high enough to reveal about two inches of satiny white nylon panties.  The thought that thisgorgeous male nurse might be wearing women's silk panties had never crossed my mind!  Composing myself quickly I remarked softly, 'I like your taste in underwear'. When there was no reply I decided to venture a question. 'Do
you wear panties all the time?' I asked, 'Or just when you're in uniform?' As he slowly got back on his feet, Danny, his face beet red, said, 'I have to wear them all the time.  They're the only underwear I'm allowed to have.  Mywife, who's also a nurse, says that panties are what real nurses wear'.

When I asked him what kind of socks he wore, Danny lifted his right leg to reveal a nice pair of white knee-high stockings which were sheer enough togive ample evidence that his legs were kept cleanly shaved.  'Sometimes', Danny added, 'especially in cold weather, my wife makes me wear whitetights in addition to my panties'.

At that point you could have knocked me over with a feather.  Then it slowly dawned on me that here was the answer to the problem of the male nurse dresscode that had been bothering me.  The appearance of the uniform is being ruined because the wrong things are being worn with it, and under it. Inaddition to the obvious fact that women's panties and stockings greatly enhance the appearance of any male nurse's uniform, these garments provide agreat psychological advantage as well.  Nursing has traditionally been a female domain and, to my way of thinking, one in which we must keep theupper hand.  If men wish to invade our territory, they must do so only on our terms.  It occurs to me that having to wear women's underwear is a good reminder to the boys that this profession rightly belongs to women.  Surely no male who experiences the constant rubbing of silky panties and stockings against his hairless body will be able to forget who's boss.

The one thing Ihave not yet solved is the problem of the hideous cotton t-shirt. I would be interested to know how your readers will react to my ideas,especially those in the nursing profession, both male and female.  Let me make myself perfectly clear.  I am boldly suggesting that we who are inpositions of authority within the nursing profession take the necessary steps to design and enforce a new dress code for the males in ourdepartments - something inoffensive, yet slightly girlish.  Speak up, nurses, and let us hear your feelings!

Ms.  R.L., Hampstead