The Order of Nurses of Quebec (OIIQ) is launching a campaign against nurses’ “sexy costumes” on Halloween.
A few days before the party, the OIIQ says it wants to fight the “sexist and degrading” stereotypes conveyed by these costumes.
Its president, Luc Mathieu, explains that this “harms the recognition of the competence of nurses” and that this perception of the profession even leads to undesirable behavior.
Rather than perpetuating the cliché of the nurse in a uniform that is far too small, the order invites people wishing to choose this costume to do justice to the health workers who hold the network at arm’s length.
The campaign, which relies on an awareness video, encourages Quebecers to adopt the costume of a “real nurse”.
“Arrive with a visor, gloves, a blouse”, lists Mr. Mathieu, warning that the revelers risk discovering quite early that it is hot under all this protective equipment.
This campaign is part of a vast strategy of the OIIQ whose objective is to restore the image of the nursing profession. We seek to get rid of the stereotype of eroticization, but also of the reductive image of the “arms” of the health system or even of the figure of benevolence and compassion.
The order hopes that the reflex of Quebecers, when they think of nurses, is first to associate them with a scientific profession and skills in health.
“A nurse who is very nice, all that, who listens and who has compassion, but who is not able to assess the person in front of her and then take care of her properly or refer her to another health professional, we are hardly advanced,” sums up Mr. Mathieu.
Thus, the awareness video ends with the following message: “Nurses care for our world. Take care of their image. »