Being "professional" was my biggest concern going into this week's orientation at my field placement. I knew I had to wear "business professional" attire and this made me tense.
For my entire working life I've avoided jobs that required me to adhere to a societally expected sense of professionalism. I preferred positions where I could make my own hours, wear whatever I wanted, and worked for people who I also had personal relationships with.
I equated professionalism with a feeling of failure. That I would never have the manners or etiquette to meet the standards. I felt it demanded me to hide my real feelings from customers and to present a fake version of myself. Inside of this refusal to take part in this culture is also discomfort around specifically professional attire and personality for women in contrast to my own queer-ness and less feminine presentation.
However, this week, during my orientation at Friends I learned some new things about professionalism. In this setting, Professionalism is about keeping the patients and other employees safe. It is imperative to treat each other with respect because that creates the environment the patients will be healing and living in. Clean clear simple clothing is safest for an environment with at risk individuals. Although there are some standards and gender expectations in the concept of professionalism I don't agree with (ie the woman should look feminine/wear makeup/wear hair long and down) I am more comfortable and excited about professionalism when I think of it as a standard for safety.