Hints to Husbands: A Revelation of the Man-Midwife's Mysteries. George Morant
is the practice of man-midwifery! We observe that, in this revolting case, the disgrace, the shame, the infamy of the poor patient was endured in vain, and that after all the tentatives, and “manipulations,” and experiments, so perseveringly repeated by the accoucheur, without any beneficial result whatsoever, nature alone was the true physician.
We will conclude this chapter of horrors in the strong and earnest language of the late Sir Anthony Carlisle, with the conviction that his burning words will go right home to the hearts of those who may not hitherto have given a thought to this fearful violation of the rights of nature.
“The woman who sacrifices her modesty to fashion, her person to indignity, and her husband’s honour to the sneers and contempt of her male midwife, is below contempt. She is a disgrace to her sex!
“It is my firm opinion that the practice of man-midwifery compromises the character and morality of our country. It is demoralizing to society, an insult to virtuous women, and a foolscap to men. If not checked and abolished, the pretensions to female modesty, and a respect for the decorums of society, will eventually be altogether excluded from the female character.”
CHAPTER III.
| “Such devils would pull angels out of heaven, Provided they could reach them; ’tis their pride; And that’s the odds ’twixt soul and body-plague! The veriest slave who drops in Cairo’s street, Cries, ‘Stand off from me,’ to the passengers; While these blotched souls are eager to infect, And blow their bad breath in a sister’s face, As if they got some ease by it.” |
If the reader views with disgust and horror the above rules of ordinary practice in man-midwifery—and what man is base enough (save an accoucheur) not so to regard them?—these feelings will be intensified a thousand-fold by the contemplation of the latest invention[31] of “obstetric art.” We allude to the SPECULUM. The adoption of this instrument, as we are informed, is now becoming general; and its employment plunges its wretched victim, woman, down into the lowest deep of infamy and degradation. We will not pollute our pages by describing its method of action; suffice it to say, that, to the sense of touch, common to all midwifery practice, is added, in its application, that of sight; exposure the most complete of all which modesty, even in the most abject of races, invariably conceals.
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