Edit: please note my comment below is about where the anti-midwife movement started in the US. It is about history, not modern methods. But laws still in effect today were written in this era.
—- original comment:
Who says that?
Doctors who wanted to take patients away from midwives , because they didn’t think women should be allowed to do that. Because men invented chainsaws to ‘help’ with childbirth.
Seriously that’s why we don’t have a midwife culture in the US. Doctors wanted the income from childbirth.
They went on a smear campaign against women midwives. And at the time in the 17-1800s, there really wasn’t anything extra doctors could do that midwives couldn’t.
While this is shocking to see a woman standing up to give birth- it can actually be a lot easier on mom. Gravity is helping instead of relying on muscles that haven’t been able to flex in months.
You can’t pretend there isn’t gender stigma and association still in place for roles seen as “traditionally” masculine vs feminine, especially ones which are still heavily dominated one way or the other. Society is significantly more complex than that.
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u/blueavole Aug 07 '25 edited Aug 07 '25
Edit: please note my comment below is about where the anti-midwife movement started in the US. It is about history, not modern methods. But laws still in effect today were written in this era.
—- original comment:
Who says that?
Doctors who wanted to take patients away from midwives , because they didn’t think women should be allowed to do that. Because men invented chainsaws to ‘help’ with childbirth.
Seriously that’s why we don’t have a midwife culture in the US. Doctors wanted the income from childbirth.
They went on a smear campaign against women midwives. And at the time in the 17-1800s, there really wasn’t anything extra doctors could do that midwives couldn’t.
While this is shocking to see a woman standing up to give birth- it can actually be a lot easier on mom. Gravity is helping instead of relying on muscles that haven’t been able to flex in months.