Rodney Webster wrote:

> In article <BB2C5EB0.42C4%eschaal@max.hi-ho.ne.jp>,
>  Ernest Schaal <eschaal@max.hi-ho.ne.jp> wrote:
>
> > For instance, one reason given for the low birth rate in Japan is the
> > male-dominated medical profession does not consider pain-control to be
> > important in childbirth. My wife has told me that some women have told her
> > that they would never give birth in Japan because the Japanese male-dominate
> > medical profession dismisses their pain as unimportant.
>
> Ernest plays his strongest card: his Japanese wife said it, so it must
> be true.

I've heard of the women who do not like regular practices such as shaving, enema,
and cutting, and would consider childbirth elsewhere. A rise in and success of
"boutique" maternity clinics which are more like hotels with personalized service
for not much more money than a regular hospital, is one response to such women's
desires. I did not witness any of those things, but I've seen and heard weird
things in maternity hospitals here, like denying the baby contact with the mother
for 24 hours, and keeping the baby in a separate room with the mother for three
days or more.

Japanese women like my wife claim not to understand how doctors in the US would
use anesthetic or put women under, allegedly not switching on the "mommy" switch
in the brain. I've seen at least one long segment on TV discussing this, claiming
it was one reason for child abuse in the US.

> BTW, have you ever considered the fact that birth has always been a
> painful experience, and yet that did not stop women in the past from
> having babies?  In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if you don't have
> higher birth-rates in third world countries, or in the past, where/when
> there is/was less access to pain-control medicines.
>
> --
> Rodney Webster
> http://knot.mine.nu/