Backlash Against Olamide’s Video ‘Wonma’ Featuring Sexy Nurses: Justified or Hypocritical?
Nigerian rapper and singer Olamide has incurred the wrath Of Nigerians by portraying nurses as sexual objects in his music video for the song “Wonma”. Nurses, medical personnel, and the general public were up in arms over the video which seemed to depict nurses in various explicit activities and moves while on duty. @pastorchristob1 on Twitter says,
“Nigeria artists do display irresponsibility by using nurses image in a terrible manner. @Olamide just did. Nurses and nursing are noble. Nurses are being respected in a saner clime. You can never see nurses in the UK, USA Canada bring dragged in the mud”
@Nursinggroupadm were also vocal about their disapproval in the artist’s choice of professions to sexualise, voicing their disappointment in a series of tweets. Olamide finally caved into the pressure and has since deleted the video from his Instagram page.
At this juncture, it is worth mentioning that I admire Olamide’s work. He possesses a verbal dexterity, with an ability to make Yoruba rhyme effortlessly while maintaining his rougher, grittier street side. Certainly, he’s no angel but he makes no pretensions to that throne. There are transparency and familiarity to his craft that resonates with most Nigerian youth; a playfulness that belies his fierce work ethic and focus.
Now, back to provocative nurses. To the untrained eye, the Nigerian public aversion for scandal might seem the very epitome of virtue. Until you realise that a few years ago, more than four million Nigerians asked for the video link to watch a girl pleasuring herself with a cucumber – so they could complain about how utterly disgraceful it was, talking about “children of nowadays”.
In addition, in this country full of religious bigots, there is a mobile app called Olosho (Yoruba for escort), released on the 5th of January this year, and currently enjoying close to a million downloads. The app boasts access to “easily connect with an olosho, ashewo (the grittier street prostitute), husband or wife material, dates, flirts, and quick hookups”. As long as you go to church in the morning, naturally.
Once you understand that most of Nigeria’s outrage is for the audacity to be open about one’s sexual inclinations, it gives context to the uproar on Olamide’s video.
Nurses, along with secretaries, school girls, librarians in strict glasses, policewomen and ladies in latex are constantly on the top tier of fantasies when it comes to female sexuality. “Can It Be You?” by North of Nine, and Mariah Carey’s “Up Out My Face” are two great examples of nurse music videos. Marvin Gaye’s Sexual Healing, with the video featuring nurses, was so explicit that his religious father killed him over what he perceived as his son’s waywardness.
Individuals cannot dictate what is considered desirable or sexual (society and zeitgeist does that) so, this article does not seek any form of redress other than to say that if Nigerians truly cared about the welfare or perception of nurses, they would do more about and for these heroes who risk their lives daily to save others.
The saner climes that @ pastorchristob1 speaks of respect their nurses by paying them adequately, compensating them with benefits, bonuses, and any other resource that makes them comfortable in their jobs. It is also worth mentioning that in those same saner climes, the sexy nurse outfit remains a top-seller when it comes to roleplay for adults. This is because, in saner climes, no one expects musicians and adult relationships to be responsible for the welfare of their frontline workers. They take that responsibility seriously and pay up, or protest, strike and march for it if need be.
Another twitter user, @Lakesyde wrote:
8hours shift, 12hours overnight shift onward, on duty at least 5days in a week, Caring and looking after the welfare of people that don’t know u or gives a damn about you, and still receiving a shitty pay at the end of the month, and this is deserved? #nursesarenotsexualobjects
The tweet is correct to save one thing: the outrage should be directed at the public sector. The government is the one disrespecting nurses and healthcare workers. The government is responsible for them leaving the country in droves, travelling abroad and leading the medical frontier in all departments. The Minister for Health is responsible for stating (and I paraphrase) that not all doctors need to practice medicine. If they are unable to find a job at a hospital, they can take up sewing or cobbling. It is the government that has degraded nurses; slashing salaries and sending nurses out to work with no PPE at a time when the rest of the world are edifying their healthcare workers.
There is simply no correlation between cultural definitions of sexiness and societal respect for professions. Many people with nurse costumes in their wardrobes at the moment do not go into hospitals hoping for sexual healing any more than they turn up at their children’s PTA meeting in the hopes of a stern teacher taking off her blouse.
Nigerians are frustrated and embittered at the thought of a country with so much potential achieving so little, but the backlash against Olamide’s video is a “kick the cat” syndrome where we take out our frustrations on those we feel we are able to.
Do you really want to respect nurses? Refuse to treat any government official who is coming to your hospitals as a result of being unable to travel out of the country for their usual health checks. Go on strike, march against unfair wages and unnecessary risk. Contact international media houses (the only media houses our governments are scared of) and show them the deplorable state of government hospitals. The tweeters must demand more of those they elected to serve them. Ask questions about mental health care and help for disability. Elect leaders, not tribesmen. If Nigerians really want to respect nurses, it will involve energy, unification, solidarity and fight.
Olamide merely sang a song.
Lastly, stay up to date with all you need to know about African music at SOA, right here.
