Pubic Shaving for Birth

Pubic shaving for birth is another labor intervention which has been practiced on laboring women and which has no basis in fact nor in science.

The rational behind this practice is that pubic hair is dirty, dangerous and germ laden. So the thought is no hair = no infection or at least a reduced infection rate.

In our opinion, it is just another subtle way to tell women something is wrong with them. It seems to us that the medical profession feels that in order to give birth, your body needs to be manipulated, altered or helped otherwise it cannot perform the act of giving birth. Apparently, left unattended, your body is incompetent. The other assumption is that only doctors in hospitals can safely accomplish all the tasks necessary before you can safely give birth to your baby...or deliver it as the hospital jargon says.

Our view, is the opposite. Your body was beautifully created to give birth. It will do so - most times - without any interventions at all. BUT if interventions are necessary, you should be given every opportunity to make informed choices and to take part in those choices. Medical interventions should be kept at a minimum and only performed when the benefits outweigh the risks. Birth is not just a physical act but it encompasses physical, emotional and spiritual aspects as well. You should never be treated as a patient - for you do not have a disease - but rather as an individual who has the ability - and the right - to make your own choices.

In light of either view, how does the practice of pubic shaving for birth fit? It does not. Most women who have been submitted to this practice find it degrading and also very uncomfortable during the postpartum period when the hair grows back.

Now, if this practice truly served a good justifiable purpose, you could submit to it even if you found it difficult to do so, no?

Yes, of course. Contrary to popular belief women who choose natural birth are not Wonder Women out for a thrill, or women who care more about the experience than the safety of their child, nor are they uneducated women from the backwoods or women who want to prove a point and certainly not women who want to make other women feel as if they are less for having a medicated birth. We have found women who want a natural birth to be very caring toward themselves and other women, who acknowledge birth is not just a physical event, and we have also found them to be more educated than the average woman. Many have also experienced the "traditional" - medical - model of giving birth and have found it to be violent, uncaring and just plain wrong.

Now, to come back to the subject at hand - public shaving for birth - it is such a practice that is wrong and unsubstantiated. As a matter of fact, scientific research proved the opposite. Yes, research shows that women who were shaved suffer a higher incidence of infection! So here goes another accepted medical practice which fails to prove valid.

So if you feel that pubic shaving is not something you want to submit to, now you know you do not have to. There are no medical reasons for it! It is a practice with no benefits what so ever.

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