AbstractThe purpose of this study was to determine if a stereotypic view of nurses as sexually permissive received support in the sexual attitudes reported by nurses. On the basis of the“kernel of truth”theory of prejudice it was predicted that nurses would be significantly more permissive in their sexual attitudes than a comparable group of university students. Using a Likert‐type attitude scale constructed for the study, 30 female nurses were compared with 30 female university students on the attitude dimension of sexual permissiveness. Item analysis of the scale revealed high internal consistency. No significant difference was found between nurses and the comparison group.