Tuesday, January 17, 2012

giggle

When anesthesia was developed, it was for many decades routinely withheld from women giving birth, since women were ‘supposed’ to suffer. One of the few societies to take a contrary view was the Huichol tribe in Mexico. The Huichol believed that the pain of childbirth should be shared, so the mother would hold on to a string tied to her husband’s testicles. With each painful contraction, she would give the string a yank so the man could share the burden. Surely if such a mechanism were more widespread, injuries in childbirth would garner more attention.” -from Half The Sky (Chapter 7: Why Do Women Die in Childbirth?) by Nicolas D. Kristof & Sheryl Wudunn 


I don't actually feel any urge to implement this in my birth space, I have to say. I'd rather have my partner all there, saying nice things to me  and rubbing my back when needed. I sent this in to AIMS, where it got this comment:


interesting idea but i cant see the average irish man allowing you to tie the string around their testicles in the first place - can you ? ;) 


 and my reply? 


 lassooing lessons as part of ante natal class... 






Sometimes I feel my genius goes wasted upon the dessert sands, though... 









13 comments:

catherine said...

laughin my arse off... ;)

Jo said...

Heh.

Not my genius in formatting though - bloody Blogger does this every time I try to cut and past anything :/

Ms. Moon said...

I don't understand how this would work. If it were ME in labor, holding on to the end of that string, I would certainly pull too hard (and not necessarily on purpose) and yank those suckers off.
I suppose this would cut down on future pregnancies, though.

Jo said...

Bleh. It's not good. Early peoples seemed to be able to sustain a lot of damage to their genitals, if we look at various rituals they also performed.

I didn't crush anything delicate in labour, I used the hah-hah-hah-blowwwww breath and it got me through my contractions, I am grateful to say. I do have a friend who bit the midwife, though.

Danielle said...

hmm..i once bit my dentist assistant..really bad..does that count?

Jo said...

Well, it's clearly a form of protest. But perhaps more effective to bite the actual dentist next time?

Danielle said...

well..it was her who had her hand up to her wrist in my mouth..not him...

this was really really bad...actually so bad that it would have ben approbiate to scream: my face is my work!!!

Jo said...

ha :)

Jo said...

For some reason I sort of assumed you'd just turned to the side and bitten her in frustration (like a dog at the vet, I guess :) - I didn't realise she was actually doing anything :)

morgor said...

laughing at damaging a persons genitals, i'm shocked and appalled.

If it was the other way around I'm sure you wouldn't be laughing.

Jo said...

The point is, it kind of was the otehr way round - about how women's pain was ignored - no, encouraged, for centuries, and still is, in many cases. Thus same attitude has informed things like the mad doctor in Drogheda breaking all the women's pelvises. Or a nurse-nun in Wexford forcing my friend to push for hours before she was fully ready. Suffferrrrrr for your orignial sin!!

The joke here is highlighting the attitude. No woman in her right mind would actually want this and I think that's fairly clear from the comments.

morgor said...

hehe, successful wind-up.

Jo said...

Oh, I thought so, but I was worried you might actually think that - it is a valid point, in itself.