sexy it ain't

There have been articles written about this subject: the portrayal of nurses as sex objects.  Who hasn't seen the sexy nurse outfits or heard about porno films about nurses?  Its bizarre because nursing is as far from sexy as you can get.

Why does this stuff go on? There are theories that men feel vulnerable and powerless when they are being cared for by nurses, so they sexualize them.  There's the old nurses give bed baths and you know what that can lead to....(wink wink).  The fact is nurses see naked bodies every day.  Its part of the job.  Its part of the job to see your junk sometimes. Sometimes we even have to touch your junk.  Believe me, we don't want to.

Seeing people naked becomes routine. One of the first things I'm going to do in the ER is to tell you to take your clothes off or take them off for you.  Ho hum.  Ninety nine percent of the bodies we see aren't all that much to look at.   Most of the time they are wrinkled and old or fat.  Its not that exciting. I can't remember the last time I had a guy whose body was anything to look at.  Healthy men in good shape don't tend to come to the ER or into the hospital.

As far as the whole sexy persona of nurses, consider this: the average age of nurses nationwide is about 46.
Middle aged. Nurses are tired, stressed out.  The job becomes more and more challenging in many ways every day.  Its overwhelming what we are expected to know and do.  Most of us are just trying to make it through a shift.

Sex is the last thing on our minds.  Get real.

The above picture is from the blog impacted nurse.   There is an interesting article there about this subject.