With Halloween approaching quickly, the ever so exciting search for the costume is beginning for men and women all over the nation. The usual categories I'm sure will reappear this season...superheroes, princesses, pop culture icons, etc. Of course, included in these tragically repetitive categories is the category of occupation. You know what I'm talking about, police officers, doctors, firefighters, and of course, nurses. However, it seems that in our society today, costumers find it impossible to manufacture these outfits without the preface "sexy" in front of them. Sexy cop, sexy doctor, sexy fireman, and of course, sexy nurse.
Prior to Halloween 2015, I honestly never gave these sorts of costumes a second look. However, upon beginning nursing school a bit over a year ago, my eyes have been opened. These costumes magnify the over sexualization that the men and women in these occupations face all too often. Think about your favorite comedy show...Friends for example. (Don't get me wrong I love Friends, probably to a fault!) But I can think of episodes where one or more of the main characters sexualize a working person from all of the previously listed occupations. Our society today over sexualizes everything! Halloween is of course no exception.
Not to say you shouldn't dress however you want on Halloween or any other day! That's your prerogative entirely. However, I have come to know many nurses in my lifetime and they all have stories of uncomfortable situations they have been in at work, caused by both patients and doctors! I believe these uncomfortable situations that nurses (and I dare assume firefighters, police officers, and doctors) experience much too often, are perpetuated by the sexualization of these occupations in our society today. Now that I am less than one year away from beginning my hospital clinical rotations, I'm beginning to see the tastelessness of these costumes even more. Choosing not to dress up in these occupation based costumes for Halloween is just one small way we can try and push back against this sexualization.
