Warning: This particular note is more uncomfortable than usual.
Disclaimer: Yes, I am generalizing here!
I heard a nurse complaining a few weeks back that in most anatomy books, the generic anatomy form is that of a man's. I don't have a problem with that (and I don't have an anatomy book to confirm that claim). I'm not suggesting that it should be a woman's form, but as I was thinking about that complaint, something clicked. Yes, we all know that men run the world. Whatever. Women raise the men who run the world, so that in itself doesn't bother me. What bothers me is the realization in the medical world—which has been largely pioneered by men—any anatomy which differs from a man's is abnormal. And anything abnormal needs to be corrected.
Now, they may not be thinking that consciously, but just take a look at the evidence. Birth is a physiological event. It is no more medical than peeing (granted, it's a lot harder). It is something that the female body is built for. Perfectly. Yes, there is a range of differences between bodies, and some (very few, hardly any) are outside the range of normal and may require extra assistance or accommodations. And yet, in the hospital setting, which is ruled and controlled by men even if all the doctors and nurses are women (because their medical education is led by men), there isn't a single person who trusts a woman's body to give birth.
Not. One.
Don't believe me? Think you're a doctor or nurse who does?
Then don't touch her.
Seriously. Try it. Even just try to imagine what that would be like. Don't touch her. Don't poke her. Don't prod her. Don't even talk to her. Put her in a comfortable room, and let her be. Are you doing it? Is is hard? Is it even possible? I'm thinking for a doctor or nurse, no it's not possible. Because you believe that the body isn't designed to give birth, because MENS bodies aren't designed to give birth.
Point number two: the world doesn't value women for their intelligence or even their inherent ability to nurture. I know a lot has changed since the '50s, some for the better, some for the worse, but this is just as true today as it has ever been. Again, just look at the evidence. Women know that their bodily functions are normal, even if they are outside the range of normal for a man, and yet thousands of women go through medical school and don't correct the medical misconceptions stated above. This may be speculation at this point, but perhaps those women doctors and nurses do attempt to correct the misconception, and they are ignored. Either that or they are so terrified of not being accepted by their male peers that they aren't comfortable with correcting what they know to be wrong. Or, they don't believe that they know as much about the female body as men do, so they accept what they are taught as truth (I'm betting on this last one). They may be accepted into the medical world as peers, but not as pioneers.
Then take a look at the ongoing controversy about breastfeeding in public. The arguments are silly. Those against it claim they don't want to see womens' breasts hanging out wherever they go. And yet the people they ask to cover up rarely have anything showing at all. When I nurse—without a cover—my shirt is pulled all the way down to my baby's mouth, but doesn't cover the baby's face at all. Sometimes, I have to show a little skin on my side, but it's far less skin than a teenager shows when she's sports a shirt that shows off her midriff, not to mention a bikini.
Besides that, let's be honest. Women have to leave their homes sometimes. Yeah, really. And if they leave their homes, they still have to feed their children. Eating in the bathroom is disgusting for anyone. Most of the suggestions given by anti-NIPers are simply impractical. But the question that always gets me is why? Why are they so uncomfortable seeing a woman breastfeeding in public, even when nothing is showing. Because women aren't valued for nurturing their children.
The underlying reason people are uncomfortable seeing women breastfeed in public is because even today, women are only valued for one thing: sex.
Men see a woman nursing in public and they don't think about how that woman is providing nourishment for a child. They think about how if they were in the position of the infant or toddler, that breastfeeding would be a sexual act.
Okay, now everyone is uncomfortable.
See what I mean? Performing a sexual act in public is highly disturbing to everyone involved. And because men don't understand that the female body is not the same as a man's body, and functions in a very different way while still being withing the realm of normal, they can't see breastfeeding as anything other than a sexual act.
It's. Not.
So let's go back to maternity wards. How prevalent is this belief that women are only good for sex? How about we bring up the many obstetricians who have recommended cesareans to women in order to preserve their “lady parts.” After all, we wouldn't want to let a baby “mess up anything down there.” Or how about the OB who is stitching up an episiotomy which he just cut, and he stitches up her vagina slightly and then turns to her husband and says, “you'll thank me for this later.”
No, I'm not making this stuff up. Yes, this stuff happens more often then most people like to think.
But let's continue. What about vaginal exams? They're designed to tell us how dilated a woman's cervix is, correct? The argument is that they use that information to predict when a woman in labor will begin the second stage of labor. Is it accurate? Not remotely. Some woman can be dilated 6 cm for weeks. Other women will go from 1 to 10 cm in an hour. Some women begin pushing at 5 cm. Other don't push for hours once they've reached 10. Yes, these are all the extremes on the spectrum, but you know what? Just because they are extremes doesn't mean they are uncommon. The point being that routinely gathering information about cervix dilation is pointless.
So how did it come about? I can bet that midwives (women) didn't start it, though many unfortunately practice it routinely today—also a case of not valuing women for their intelligence (if they did, they would continue to practice the way women practiced successfully for 1000s of years). Male doctors started it. I believe that the doctors, nurses, and midwives who practice it today do have good intentions—most of them anyway. Still, some of them probably enjoy putting their hands where they are not welcome a little too much.
Consent isn't consent if it is requested by an authority figure claiming it is a medical procedure when it is not. Routine vaginal exams in labor have no medical value. So what motive does that leave us with? I don't think I have to say it.
It's especially obvious when I listen to stories from women describing how they would scream at a doctor or nurse to stop, to not touch them, to remove their hand, or simply shout “no” and that nurse or doctor continues regardless.
What's the point of all this? Society still only places sexual value on women, not intellectual or nurturing value. Even some feminists (the ones that give the rest of us a bad name) believe that they only way they can be valued in society is if they act and dress like men. But above all, doctors don't believe women can give birth, so don't go to a doctor if that's what you want to do.
No comments:
Post a Comment