What would you do for food?

I was listening to the radio the other morning and the DJs were having a discussion about how much money they would have to win in order to participate in a contest where they would go shopping naked. Two of the women DJs said they would need to win hundreds of thousands of dollars in order to participate in such a contest. One of the DJs mentioned a contest sponsored by a grocery store in Europe where those who showed up to the store naked to shop would win $400 worth of groceries. This made me think, perhaps those who are financially stable require an exorbitant amount of money to participate in such a contest but those who have less may be more inclined to participate. This in turn made me think about the nature of the contest, what the experience of being naked means in our society, and how 'winning' involved putting oneself on display in order to gain a basic need, food, in an amount that most of the ‘haves’ of the world likely spend in a weekly shopping trip. 

What does this mean about us as a society that for publicity a group of people, who I imagine are those who most need the prize, are willing to expose themselves and be exploited in order to obtain a basic need. The radio-show discussion made light of the subject but I find that with this, as with many of the issues that are broached on pop radio stations, these topics intended to be for the listeners amusement, strictly for entertainment value actually have such underlying social implications.

In my new nursing role working with a population of individuals living with HIV who are facing multiple health barriers I am finding that I am learning more about individuals who are sexually exploited. I find that each day, with each additional nursing job that I have my eyes open a litter wider as I learn about the experiences of marginalized individuals. For that I am thankful, because I see the world in a much different way than I did 10 years ago when I wanted to battle inequality in the world with an undergraduate sociology degree. I think this further solidifies my belief that as a registered nurse who has worked in mental health and addictions for the past 4 years I have a knowledge base that is both foreign to many people as well as ignored. I have come to see that as a registered nurse who believes passionately about social justice it is my responsibility to educate and inform the public about important social issues and the bearing that they have on the health of individuals and populations. And so, I see more clearly that for me, this is more than a job. This is how I see the world, this is how I live my life, because I am always thinking about the greater social implications of everything which is almost a blessing and a curse. However, for a spur of the moment career choice that I thought would never materialize into anything this registered nursing path have proved to be extremely rewarding. I love what I do and I love the ability that it gives me to make both the lives of individuals better as well as better society. I hope that most registered nurses feel this way.