Stop dissing our nurses

THE EDITOR, Sir:

I write to express my disgust of the perennial portrayal of the nursing profession by advertisers, playwrights and others as a group of porn stars or nymphomaniacs. This professional degradation has been seen in movies and plays, and was recently corroborated by publications of a Marga-ritaville ad in The Sunday Gleaner of February 13 and 20, 2011, captioned 'Therapy', where a female, dressed (or underdressed) in a barely there two-piece, has the word nurse imprinted on the portion that drapes her breasts and also her headgear.

This repugnant connotation of the profession of nursing that I love dearly has reached unbearable heights, which, I believe, warrants legal actions against those who continue to perpetrate this.

Nursing is a sacred and worthy profession that has moved into scientific evidenced-based practice and warrants the same respect that all other professions have been ascribed by pundits and the rest of society. Because nursing is predominantly occupied by females, and societies - worldwide - especially men, have little or no respect for women or see women as sex symbols, they have no scruples in associating the same immoral and carnal thoughts and attitude to nursing.

sexual innuendoes

These sexual innuendoes make it difficult to promote the profession of nursing legitimately to young adults without subtly telling them that it's OK to be promiscuous and seductresses. This is further compounded by the fact that in Jamaica, nursing is not financially gratifying.

These salacious portrayals are utterly disrespectful and a slap in the face of nursing pioneers. These nurses and others have given more than their best to nursing worldwide and deserve more than having their noble profession carnally sensationalised. In spite of the poor remuneration and inadequate resources to work with, nurses do their best to ensure that the public receives safe and quality care. It is true that at times nurses allow their human nature to react in stressful situations, but they still ought to be respected.

On the contrary, it is disheartening that it seems as if the International Council of Nurses, the nursing councils or the national nurses' associations have not sought to get legal parameters to prevent the perpetuation of the degradation of nurses and defamation of the profession. I believe if these advertisers and film-makers/playwrights know that there are legal consequences to their actions, they will think twice before producing their sleazy products.

I am, etc.,

ANDREA CHRISTIE

Registered Nurse/Midwife

eboneteyes@hotmail.com