Camp, Nursing, and the Politics of Seriousness

This paper examines how camp, an aesthetic grounded in exaggeration, humor, and theatricality, functions as a legitimate nursing practice that challenges the cisheteronormative seriousness embedded in professional nursing culture. I begin by tracing how seriousness became a dominant aesthetic standard in nursing, shaping expectations for comportment, emotional restraint, and professionalism in ways that marginalize queer and trans nurses. Drawing from Sontag's Notes on Camp, I argue that seriousness is not an objective requirement of safe or ethical care but a culturally specific performance that restricts who and what count as 'professional'. I then introduce camp as a counter-aesthetic that exposes the performative nature of these norms. Through playfulness and intentional artifice, camp destabilizes the boundaries of professional conduct and opens space for alternative, culturally grounded expressions of care. To illustrate this, I examine the work of Bobbi Campbell, known as Sister Florence Nightmare RN, as a historical exemplar of a drag nurse who promoted health education, reduced stigma, and community resilience during the early HIV/AIDS epidemic. I then pull on Nurse Anne Thracks and Mandy Mango as contemporary examples of drag-as-nursing. These examples demonstrate how queer nurses use drag and camp to strategically engage communities, communicate health information, and model radically inclusive care. I extend this analysis to contemporary nursing contexts, arguing that integrating camp is a form of ethical authenticity aligned with the profession's commitments to dignity, self-regard, and social justice. I show how campy and drag nurses actively subvert restrictive norms by transforming the figure of the nurse-through language, attire, and performance-while still providing effective, culturally relevant care. Ultimately, I propose camp as a generative framework for reimagining nursing aesthetics and practice. Embracing camp expands the boundaries of what is considered professional, ethical, and therapeutic, offering a model of nursing that honors joy, relationality, sociopolitical wellness.