Nurses turn to prostitution
credit: dtes.people
Ok, so there’s a title I didn’t think I’d ever read!
However, according to some credible news sources in Australia, it appears that stressed out nurses are quitting hospital work and turning to prostitution as a source of income.
I have to say that regardless of claims that prostitution is safer than ever, it stills stands that these two “careers” really don’t go together. With all that we have learned about looking after ourselves and focusing on holistic care, prostituting yourself is a bad idea. Not only physically, but also emotionally, spiritually. If you really want to limit your sense of self-worth, wreck your self-esteem and discover what it feels like to be a pure object used for someone else’s gratification, you’ll find it in prostitution. That’s not what nurses stand for, is it?
Additionally, I can’t imagine how gross it must be having to pretend you’re interested (sexually) in complete strangers!
While prostitution is not something I’ll ever be checking out personally, I have worked in nursing for long enough and seen enough naked people that I really should make mention of another dilemma that sex workers must have to face – the reality of how many people look naked! Let me assure you, it’s not always what glamourised fashion magazines make things out to be. For example, issues such as obesity and the lack of personal hygiene seen in many people would not do anything to help the self esteem of any prostitute.
Obviously there are lots of exceptions to this, but to reach a point where you invite strangers to strip down and hop in your bed!? I’m a little dumbfounded. Not to mention I’m sure there’s a fair share of losers, creeps and psycho’s that also frequent brothels….
What’s also amazing about this is that the story doesn’t proclaim that a single nurse has left the profession to sell themselves on the street, but that several have jumped on the bandwagon.
“The mother of two with 10 years’ experience as a registered nurse, who wanted to be known only as Jenna, has told how she and at least four of her colleagues have found new jobs working in brothels.”
Let me just add that there are specific reasons why these people have decided to leave the hospitals and seek alternative income sources, and this post does not really expand on these reasons: that nurses are exhausted, demoralised, under-staffed and stressed.
I agree! I work under these same conditions frequently. It’s tiring physically and mentally to work as a nurse in Queensland right now, not to mention that you work crazy hours with serious ramifications when you mess up, and the pay is not super-great.
Regardless of this…. prostitution? Really?! Check out this personal account by a former prostitute in Australia:
“I know about trafficking first hand. I was enticed into the prostitution trade as a young single mother with bills to pay, and once trapped I was unable to escape until 20 years later.
I wasn’t trapped by force. Some are, because pimps can be pretty vicious – but I had no pimp. I was trapped by the easy money which lulled me into thinking that the physical and mental pain I went through was worth it. It was never worth it. It destroys you. Even though I have now been out of the sex industry for nearly eight years, I am still in recovery and probably always will be.” - Linda Watson
hi all. I’m sad 2 hear that my fellow nurses are sharing the wrong stuff with the community. I was hoping to relocate one day to australia, but that doesn’t sound very inviting. Warm regards from Kenya. Carl the nurse.
Hi Carl… Regarding prostitution? Very much the minority! You’d be hard pressed to ever actually find a nurse in Australia that admitted to dabbling in that area on the side! It was brought to light by the media however, so I guess some people actually are resorting to that!
Regarding working conditions? I’m not so sure it’s much different/worse from many other parts of the world. Yes you can work under stressful conditions with serious ramifications if you stuff up, but isn’t this basically the career of nursing summed up?! Interested to hear any thoughts from others…. Maybe also check out Should I Be A Nurse? Cheers…
This is a case of “don’t hate the player, hate the game.” These women have come to the conclusion that the only way to make additional income is to prostitute themselves. Surely the lack of viable jobs for these women is the problem, not that they supposedly “chose” prostitution above other jobs?
@Astro – Hi, thanks for your comments. “..the only way to make additional income is to prostitute themselves” might hold true if they were in some other country where jobs where completely scarce, in Australia we are not in a recession. There are masses of jobs around, and in particular there are loads of nursing jobs. I suspect they want to get out of nursing AND make a quick buck, hence the reason for the change.
Well, I guess it’s a natural fit since they already have that sexy nurse outfit and everything right?
Sorry, I couldn’t resist. Just kidding…
Sorry to say, my wife is a nurse in QLD and the working conditions not just sucks, it is a shame how far the government neglected the system to go! Double their salaries and employ double the amount of nurses and the problem may start to disappear. This will takes ages to rectify and would not happen in my life time. My wife some days not even return to home when her shift is complete. When I call to follow-up where she is she is still at work standing in for someone whom didn’t show up. She has to find replacement nurses when her shift is complete – they are not just nurses but managers of staff as well. An accident can happen any day and the system doesn’t protect them! I am waiting for the day someone dies due to the result of a nurse not being able to take due care and sue the government or her/his employer and win this case! May be this will open the sleeping Health Care Minister’s eyes!
My advise to any nurse thinking to emigrate to Australia, think again! Cost of living doesn’t make it worth to be a nurse in Australia! The shortage is to blame on the government and although Australia may not ne in a recession yet (that I doubt referring to the action taken by the government and what top economist indicates), the salaries and increases nurses receives are poor.
My wife is a nurse in Australia in age care. An old guy masturbated while a carer had to wash him. This is not the first time this happened. When the carer hit (just a slap) the old bastard on his hand a case was opened against the carer at the police. She was dismissed as well. Previous carers refused to wash the old bastard because of his behaviour. If I was a nurse or carer I would have hit the old bastard straight in his privates. What would you do on these circumstances? This is an example of situations nurses and carers are faced with daily. Not even for 3 times a nurse’s pay I would do this work. I do understand why Jemma rather decided to prostitute than to work under this circumstances.
Hi there,
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SonyaSunny
Hi! I am a Registered Nurse who has also suffered severe burnout. I entered into nursing so I could help people. Due to the current and past pay scale, I needed to work either alot of overtime or two seperate jobs (talk about a rotating schedule!). Then I realized that my “gas tank was empty” and I had no more to give since I had not been taking care of me, too, during this process. I decided to take a new path and continue to help others in the process. Give me a call and we can talk about how I can help you take your life back (without prostituting). 1-800-775-0728 in the U.S. Take care and God Bless!
Don’t knock it till you try it! At least the girls know what it’s like to work nights before entering their new trade
This post is just offensive. Do you also suggest abstaining from sex in a relationship because of your partner’s “sweaty, hairy, smelly” body? Don’t “people with hairy moles, missing teeth, skin tags, excess fat” ever form sexual relationships?
And for those who can’t, do you suggest they be condemned to lifelong involuntary celibacy? Sex workers are performing a valuable and humane function and they deserve far more respect than you accord them here.
For the record, I am a sex worker and I enjoy my job immensely. I wouldn’t change it for any other, especially not for nursing. I do my job well and I am proud of it. I bring happiness into many other lives, and for very little discomfort to me – usually the contrary!
I have long shed the religious and cultural baggage that you still seem to be labouring under that teaches that a woman somehow “defiles” her body “physically, but also emotionally, spiritually” through sex work. I think, for a nurse, you really need to learn some compassion.
Thanks for your comments Jill – I hope that one day you recognise that you are worth so much more in this world than people paying to use your body. Don’t sell yourself short – you are not on this earth for that reason.
Wow Ros, what a judgemental article and your response to Jill is beyond patronising. With an attitude like yours I hope I never come across you as nurse. I will cut you some slack though as it is obvious from your writing that you are completely ignorant when it comes to the realities of sex work in our country (in those states where it is legal at least).
As someone who works with the public (I assume) you really should aim to educate yourself about a subject before you make comment on it. I suggest picking up some copies of Pro Vision ( the magazine from the Aust. Sex Workers Association) and hear the voice of some actual sex workers.
I’ll leave you with a comment about “sex worker stigma” from a sex worker… “No client, no boss, and no job has ever made me feel as incredibly disempowered and attacked as other women do when they deny my personal experience of sex work and call me a liar, or a victim. Since interacting with organised feminist groups as an out sex worker, I now realise, I am not only stigmatised and discriminated against by mainstream society, but also by my sisters in the feminist movement, who I had always held respect and admiration for. That’s what keeps me up at night, not the independance, power, learning, entertainment, respect and flexibility I get from the sex industry.”
And remember there are “No bad whores, just bad laws”.
Cheers
Hi Abbey, thanks for visiting…
Judgemental? Maybe I was a touch harsh in my description of the realities of the human body (** original post now slightly edited), but what I was trying to relay is that to prostitute yourself is to lower your standards of what you can achieve in life.
My comments regarding the lack of self worth and self esteem that many sex workers suffer are based on studies and comments from real people who have worked in the industry, ie this link here.
Also if you work as a sex worker and you personally feel like you’re doing the world some wonderful service that has no ramifications or harm to yourself or the people you provide services to, then you’re entitled to that opinion.
All the best.
I have been a nurse for 21 years and have come to the conclusion that nursing is itself an intellectual form of prostitution. Through years of staffing patterns based on the hospital’s bottom line and not what the patient or community needs, I have observed that hospital administrators are of the opinion that we are disposable persons. We are not to complain or demand better treatment for ourselves lest we make ourselves targets for disciplinary actions. It is a matter of shut up and do as you’re told; be glad you have a job. I continue to keep working as a nurse to protect my community from the idiocy of those in power within the health care system.
If I expected to be treated as a professional, to be respected as a nursing scientist, to be given the tools, to be given access to resources and information on new technologies and best practices, then I should not be able to stand it. Those expectations do not reconcile themselves with the way nurses are actually treated by hospitals. In truth, staff nurses are given training only based on the latest sentinel event, or only what is required for accreditation or by policy. Often, we are not considered trustworthy enough to even have e-mail (even within the hospitals) or access to the medical libraries that our facilities maintin. It is easier on my own psyche to think of myself as a prostitute and the hospital administrator is my pimp. That’s how we’re treated, and for me, it’s easier to think about it that way than grieve for the professional that I was supposed to be.
BeSilent – check out this reader’s recent post on respect vs egos in the field of nursing.