Spain’s general nursing council has called on retailers to stop selling “sexy nurse” Halloween costumes, complaining that the outfits damage the public’s perception of the profession and perpetuate a “sexualised, trivial and frivolous” image of women.
The council, which represents 330,000 male and female nurses across Spain, said the costumes had no place in a modern and egalitarian society. It also criticised “zombie” and “killer” nurse outfits, saying they did nurses few favours either.
“As people prepare to celebrate Halloween and All Saints’ Day, the general nursing council regrets the proliferation of costumes that have offensive and degrading connotations as far as the profession is concerned,” it said in a statement.
“Take, for example, the very short and sexy nurses’ outfits that bear no resemblance whatsoever to real uniforms. And then there are the outfits bathed in blood, the killer ones, and the living dead ones, all of which are now typical of this celebration that has become so entrenched in our country, especially among children and young people.”
The council renewed its calls for shops and online retailers to stop selling costumes that “paradoxically link death and murder” with the professionals whose job it is to help cure and look after people.
“Female and male nurses don’t like having to endure the annual wave of ‘sexy nurse’, ‘killer’ or ‘zombie’ nurse costumes as it bewilders and offends them,” said the council’s president, Florentino Pérez Raya. “[These outfits] damage the public image of a profession whose dedication demands not only top-tier academic and university qualifications, but which is also recognised as a bastion of healthcare quality.”
The council said parents and other people had an important role to play when it came to tackling harmful images of nursing.
“We’re not just criticising Halloween,” said its vice-president, Raquel Rodríguez Llanos. “It’s also parties, stag parties, private parties and carnivals. We’re calling on all mothers and fathers not to dress their sons and daughters in costumes that are offensive to the profession because that’s how these practices become normalised and are carried on into adulthood.”
Nurses in Canada issued a similar plea last year, saying the costumes’ “eroticisation of the profession” was socially and professionally unacceptable.
“The profession has evolved but stereotypes persist,” said Luc Mathieu, the president of the Québec Order of Nurses (OIIQ). “Nurses practise a scientific profession and their expertise must be better known and valued. It is time for perceptions to change.”
