Sexism, Men, and Stupid Obstetrics

I am routinely amazed by the ridiculous things done in obstetrics. So much of what is practiced is obviously not natural or normal, and yet has been normalized by years and years of use. Some examples:

Vaginal Exams
Continuous Fetal Monitoring
Labor and Birth in the Supine Position
Medication For Labor and Birth
Routine Immediate Cord Clamping
The Overused C-Section

These are just a few things that upon even gentle examination make no sense, harm the birth experience, and ultimately harm the mother and baby.

We are starting to see some progress in obstetrics as research shows just how STUPID so many of the above things are. They are not supported by better outcomes or better experiences. And yet research backed by the almighty dollar seems to be the only thing that can change ridiculous practices that never should have started in the first place.

Why the prevalence of STUPID obstetrics?

The answer is simple- MEN.

When women give birth with other women, particularly generations of women who have given birth themselves and have seen many other women give birth, they are led by instinct and fact based wisdom of what works. They birth in positions that they FEEL like giving birth in. They listen to baby or simply FEEL it move. They would not think of cutting the private parts of one of their own sisters. They know she can do it because they have done it themselves. There is nothing more natural and sacred, and there is nothing scary about it.

When birth became the subject matter of men, everything changed.

A man literally has NO IDEA that it is uncomfortable to lie on your back when full term with an eight pound baby. He of course has never even been pregnant. He might believe it- if you can prove it.

He has no idea that a vaginal exam is humiliating, uncomfortable and tells you nothing about the time of birth. He looks at the female body as a mysterious machine, that can and should work in a predictable manner.

When he sees a woman moaning and moving in labor, he is in awe of her power. But awe turns to fear and doubt because he does not understand how these primal rituals can influence something that seems to be only a physical process that should be kept as controlled as possible. He also thinks her noises mean she is in pain, when they are in fact a way to deal with the overwhelming sensations of birth.

When he sees the miracle of the baby emerging from the "tiny" vagina, he thinks- "That must hurt, I can help her by numbing her or making the opening larger." He doesn't know that the moment of birth is more climactic than painful. He doesn't know that her body is meant to do this. He doesn't know that that "tiny hole" can both make love and birth babies with equal skill. It looks incomprehensible, and because he has never done it, it is incomprehensible to him.

Forcing the woman to be conveniently still and medicated to the gills on her back of course increase the "need" for instrumental and surgical delivery. He sees the female body as flawed and failing rather than powerful and amazing. After all, the woman probably needs and even wants to be "saved" from pushing that huge thing out of that tiny hole. The c-section is more and more necessary the less we understand the female body and her abilities.

When the baby is finally ripped from the malfunctioning body of it's mother, it is important to cut the ties that bind and pass the baby to another penis yielding expert who can handle things. The cord is cut, the baby is passed. Does it need anything more from that placenta and that mother? Of course not! Missed is the miracle of the placenta, the need for the precious cord blood, and the common sense of thousands of years of evolution and divine design. The wisdom of ages is replaced with cold hands and steel instruments.

We should not have to "prove" what is obvious. The female body is made to give birth. This is the RULE. The exception are the rare cases where something else is needed. With modern health and sanitation, the exception (the woman who can't give birth without help) is even more rare than ever. And yet, we seem to be surrounded by women who "needed" intervention, now more than ever before.

The sad fact is that the introduction of men to the art of birth has changed it, probably forever. It introduced so many foreign, silly, and yes, STUPID practices that never would have been there had birth stayed within the realm of wise women, intuition, and sisterhood.

I want to close with a quote from Ina May Gaskin, found in the movie, Orgasmic Birth (my emphasis added).

"The United States has a peculiar history about childbirth. There is a higher level of fear of birth in this country than we see in so many cultures around the world. I think it has to do with our own peculiar history of absolutely destroying the profession of midwifery in the early twentieth century. When you destroy midwives, you also destroy a body of knowledge that is shared by women, that can’t be put together by a bunch of surgeons or a bunch of male obstetricians, because physiologically, birth doesn’t happen the same way around surgeons, medically trained doctors, as it does around sympathetic women."

Give birth on your terms with others who believe in birth. We have moved so far from this sisterly knowledge that now even female midwives and practitioners sometimes doubt the power of the female. Surround yourself with people who trust birth.