Reply #29: To the contrary, one of the greatest evolutionary steps [View All]

in the progression of ape to "man" was the widening of the female pelvis to accomodate the large brains of hominid species. All one has to do is compare a human female pelvis to that of a modern chimpanzee to get the picture. This and the swing in hominid species from estrus to menstruation is probably what paved the way for the homo sapiens to surge in population and rise to the top of the food chain. I would also guess that the invention of the chair and the sedentary lifestyle of modern day women has been more detrimental to childbirth than anything else, as primitive women squat to do everything including giving birth, and walk for miles each day as well, and are in much better physical condition, especially in the muscle areas that count. Countless children have been killed, maimed and brain damaged by ham-handed doctors with their forceps and suction cups,etc, including a friend of mine who was yanked out by forceps which resulted in her arm being broken.

Presently we are coming to a point where there seems to be a developing marriage between common sense and allopathic medicine with regards to childbirth. However it needs to be said that medical malpractice kills thousands of people a year in the U.S., many of them women and children. I believe the poster was referring to the warped belief system that has prevailed regarding women and all things female for the last 3-5000 years in so many (but not all) cultures, and which reached it's epoch during the middle ages when women all over europe (and a few in the U.S.), who traditionally were midwives and healers were slaughtered en masse, i.e. the 'witch trials", or 'witch burnings', so that christian males could gain control of medical practices and wipe out the last remnants of paganism. Not coincidentally wiped out with european paganism were women who had inestimable knowledge of plants and herbs, including and expecially those used for birth control and abortion, which is the whole point of male control of medicine and especially childbirth procedures anyway. At it's heart paternalistic society is concerned about lineage and very little else, explaining why gang rape of women in so prevalent during wartime.