Do people really look up at nurses?

Have you ever came across those old censored/pornographic videos and posters with main characters dressed or identified as nurses?

We are talking about porn, not exactly the staple of intellectual thinking. You can find nearly every type of vocation and profession portrayed in pornography. Look at police officers, doctors, office workers, housewives, and nearly any walk of life you care to think of. Pornography is not selective about who gets to do decadent things. Therefore, it is not the porn industry singling nursing out as all walks of life are represented.

Additionally, nursing has far bigger problems to worry about than focusing on the media habits of perverts.

I think nurses do an amazing job and when a nurse is good she can not only help with the patients physical health, but their emotional health as well.

Unfortunately, many of our patients/visitors/family do NOT look up to us. Many nights I am made to feel the equivalent of a waitress or better yet, a maid at a hotel.

We are talking about porn, not exactly the staple of intellectual thinking. You can find nearly every type of vocation and profession portrayed in pornography. Look at police officers, doctors, office workers, housewives, and nearly any walk of life you care to think of. Pornography is not selective about who gets to do decadent things. Therefore, it is not the porn industry singling nursing out as all walks of life are represented.

Additionally, nursing has far bigger problems to worry about than focusing on the media habits of perverts.

please gila, correct me if i'm wrong, but you 'sound' somewhat bothered by the aforementioned suggestion.
we nurses do have very palpable quandaries with our public image.
and yes, the 'naughty nurse' image has been around for decades and decades.
but then again, we're angels...mercurial, ever-loving, tenderly-wiping-the-brow-of-a-pt-kind-of-angel.

but perhaps most notable and omnipresent, is the "doormat" mentality that many see us as, i.e., self-sacrificing martyrs who grovel their days away, feeling overworked, underpaid, underappreciated, etc.

gila, we have all of these images.
and this is precisely why it/we are so problematic.
and that is why these ongoing debates about "the professional nurse" - adn vs bsn - lpn vs rn, etc...
they all revolve around our image, our perception, our vision.

so tatara, to answer your question:

it's really hard to say.
some folks love us.
some folks want to sic their dog on us.
some even want to jump our bones.

what you will find in nursing and life in general, is when you genuinely like and respect yourself, then life is a whole lot brighter and considerations such as "do you like me?", become far less significant.

no matter the situation, it always starts with you.

leslie