Nevada benefit for injured motorcyclists rethinks naughty nurse imagery
Some Nevada motorcycle enthusiasts at first used naughty nurse imagery to promote a Leap Day 2020 benefit to get health equipment to injured riders. Nurses’ advocacy about this at first seemed to get nowhere, but the event organizers eventually switched to mainly professional nurse imagery!
February 29, 2020 – Today a group of Nevada motorcycle enthusiasts held a commendable event called “Leapin’ for a Reason” to get needed health equipment to injured riders. They did so using mostly professional nurse imagery, even though earlier promotional material had featured classic naughty nurse imagery. In fact, the event’s planned “naughty nurse contest” seems to have been replaced by a wheelchair decorating contest! What made the difference? The advocacy of alert local nurse-motorcyclist Renegade (Ren) Scott-Feagle and The Truth About Nursing! That’s right. We spent hours discussing the issues with the main event organizer Bikerdown, a non-profit working to get health equipment to injured bikers, as well as sponsors Henderson Harley-Davidson and the Full Throttle Law firm. But despite all that, we had little reason to hope that there would be any change. In fact, the lead organizer spent a half hour telling us in no uncertain terms that she had a right to say whatever and she would be sure to do just that. Even so, she must have considered our explanation that naughty nurse imagery undermines the very professionals who provide critical care to injured bikers. That’s because it suggests nursing is all about female sexuality, rather than advanced skills. This unexpected change by the event organizers highlights an aspect of advocacy that is easy to overlook: Even when your arguments may seem to be getting nowhere, they may still be working on listeners at some level, and someday there may be a positive result you never expected. We thank Ren Scott-Feagle for her courage and support, as well as the organizers of “Leapin’ for a Reason” for their willingness to consider the interests of nursing.
