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You Were Never Meant to Forget: The Bastardisation of Birth - part 2

You Were Never Meant to Forget: The Bastardisation of Birth

You Were Never Meant to Forget: The Bastardisation of Birth

Birth has always been a profoundly female-centered event. Before modern medicine, childbirth was attended and supported almost exclusively by women—midwives, doulas, sisters, mothers, neighbors—who shared knowledge, care, and wisdom passed down through generations.

Were All Women Midwives or Doulas Before Modern Medicine?

Not every woman was a midwife or doula, but in many traditional societies, childbirth was surrounded by women who provided support and care. Midwives were skilled birth attendants, often respected members of their communities. Doulas, though not named as such historically, existed as women who gave emotional and physical support during labor.

Women were central to birth because men were usually excluded from the birthing space. It was a communal, women-led experience, with specialized knowledge residing in female networks.

When and Why Did Men Take Over?

The takeover of childbirth by men happened mainly between the 17th and 19th centuries in Europe and then spread globally as medicine became professionalized and institutionalized.

  • 1600s–1700s: Male doctors began attending difficult births using tools like forceps (invented secretly by the Chamberlen family).
  • 1700s–1800s: Medical professionals promoted themselves as more scientific and “modern,” while midwives were dismissed as untrained or superstitious.
  • 1800s–1900s: Childbirth shifted to hospitals staffed by male doctors, and midwifery was heavily regulated or outlawed in some places.

This shift was driven by:

  • Patriarchal power structures seeking control over women's bodies.
  • The professionalization and profit motives of medicine.
  • Technological advances like forceps and anesthesia that seemed to require a doctor’s presence.

Unfortunately, early male-dominated medical birth practices often increased maternal mortality because of lack of hygiene and over-intervention, such as puerperal fever outbreaks when doctors didn’t wash their hands.

A Visual Timeline of the Medical Takeover of Birth

Here’s a quick timeline summarizing these changes:

  • Before 1600s: Birth was women-led and home-based, with midwives central to the process.
  • 1600s: Introduction of forceps by male doctors, starting medical intervention.
  • 1700s: Rise of male physicians and decline of midwives’ social status.
  • 1800s: Birth moved into hospitals, increasing doctor control but also risks.
  • 1900s: Midwifery declines sharply; hospital births become the norm.
  • Late 1900s–Today: Resurgence of midwives, doulas, and natural birth movements.

What Was Twilight Sleep?

One of the most notorious examples of medicalized childbirth in the early 20th century was Twilight Sleep. This method used a combination of morphine and scopolamine to put laboring women into a semi-conscious, amnesiac state.

Instead of relieving pain, Twilight Sleep erased memory of pain. Women were often strapped down or left alone in padded rooms because of delirium or agitation caused by the drugs. Many woke up to find their babies already born, with no clear memory of the birth itself.

This practice originated in Germany in 1906 and became popular in the US by the 1910s, especially among middle- and upper-class white women searching for a “modern” and “scientific” childbirth experience.

“Twilight Sleep delivers a woman from her age-old fate... it makes childbirth bearable and forgettable.”
— Early 20th-century magazine

While it was touted as progress, Twilight Sleep robbed women of control, consent, and presence during birth. Babies were sometimes born drugged, and mothers often suffered injuries and trauma they couldn’t remember but deeply felt.

Legacy and the Return of Female Birth Wisdom

By the 1960s and 70s, feminist and natural birth movements began to expose the harms of Twilight Sleep and the medicalization of childbirth. Women demanded respectful, informed, and empowered birth experiences.

Today, midwives and doulas are making a powerful comeback, helping women reclaim birth as a deeply personal, sacred, and life-affirming journey.

Birth is not only about making babies. Birth is about making mothers—strong, competent, capable mothers.
— Barbara Katz Rothman, sociologist

Final Thoughts

Birth was never meant to be forgotten or endured in silence. It is an event of transformation, strength, and love. The history of childbirth is also a story of power—how women’s wisdom was overshadowed and how it is now rising again.

Remember: You were never meant to forget.

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