Textual Poaching: Identity Verification

Photo courtesy BYU NLC

Photo: Chris Olsen, courtesy BYU NLC

Photo: Chris Olsen '76, courtesy BYU NLC

PC: Laura Thompson 

PC: Laura Thompson

PC: Laura Thompson

Identity is a fairly loaded concept in today’s ‘modern’ society.  Occupations, race, sexual orientation, culture, socioeconomic status, etc. are all up for grabs when it comes to defining one’s identity.  What makes determining this identity more difficult is the perception that comes with each individual aspect.  How ready is the gay high schooler to admit his sexual orientation when he attends a catholic boarding school?  What hope does a child born into a home unable to afford decent meals of adding ‘college graduate’ to her identity?  Though these circumstances could end in any number of ways, no one can dismiss that the culture that surrounds each of us plays heavily in how certain, if not all, aspects of our individual identities are perceived or available. 

Adding to the complexity of identity, Henry Jenkins in his book Textual Poachers discusses how texts, which includes many media—like television, can become parts of individual and collective identity.  These texts are taken from the author by the reader and hijacked into a world appreciated only by those who share similar ideas about the subject.  These texts then become ‘real’ because the reader takes what is inanimate or fictitious and, like Dr. Frankenstein, summons a creature only he or she can appreciate.

These creatures appear as Star Trekkies, Pottermore, Team Edward, etc.  And these creatures can be just as much a part of someone’s identity as religion or race.  And again, one cannot deny the influence cultural context has on identity perception.

A great deal of my current identity resides in my future profession of nursing.  Nursing is one of the few, if not the only, profession where men who are nurses are given the prefix of ‘male’.  This is because nursing is a traditionally feminine profession.  Nursing is laden with a history of kind, dedicated women who cared for their fellow humans despite the chagrin of their male medical superiors.  Perhaps the most iconic nurse, Florence Nightingale, is the embodiment of that history.  And it is precisely that history that demands a distinction be made since men were ‘allowed’ into this profession.

The photos I have decided to ‘poach’ are historical photos found in the Nursing Learning Center at Brigham Young University.  To me, they personify three distinct and recognizable aspects or duties seen in nurses.  Nurses' primary duty is to carry out orders prescribed by the physician, as long as it resides in the nurse’s scope of practice.  This includes setting up intravenous (IV) access, administering medications, cleaning wounds, etc.  Nurses are also known for going above and beyond, often seen consoling patients for any number of reasons.  These are also traditionally seen as feminine aspects: men don’t clean; men don’t console; men don’t take orders. 

By placing myself in the position held primarily by a female counterpart, I am declaring that these aspects are as much a part of my identity as my sexual orientation or religion.  And, I am declaring that these aspects needn’t be seen as strictly feminine in nature.  A man can be capable of providing comfort to those who need it.  A man can clean up after someone.  A man can take orders and give medications.  In short, a man can do anything a nurse can do because a man is who I am and a nurse is who I'll be.