Given that women can't stand pain as well as men, should we really believe that chilbirth is that painful?

Question

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4641567.stm

Answer 1

Ummmm. . .this whole question cracks me up! Men are notorious for not handling pain and sickness well! Have you spent any time in a hospital at all? Sure, men will go longer in pain before asking for any help, but that seems to be more an issue of asking for help than standing pain!

And, I'm assuming you're a man, so put this picture in your head. . .during my labor and delivery, I had some meconium staining when my water broke, so was induced with pitocin, which forces your uterus (think major muscle here!) to cramp down and contract even harder and faster. When it finally kicked in, I pushed and she came out so hard and fast I was ripped all the way up to my urethra. No time for epidural here. . .no time for ANY numbing. . .just genital flesh being ripped apart while major muscles are contracting and cramping down.  

My husband, who I love and adore and is so not a "sissy" boy by any stretch of the imagination, cringed in pain at the SOUND, and still, 5 years later, can't stand the mention of the sound.

I'd say I can "stand pain" just as, and more so, than most any man.

BUT, does that make me a better person? So I had a totally "natural" childbirth, with major tearing and no screaming or cussing out the docs. Whoopee doo. If that's my claim to being something, I'm not much!

Answer 2

Uh?

Even if women couldn't stand pain as well as men this wouldn't make childbirth any less painful. Your argument makes no sense whatsoever. And anyway, I suspect that the 500,000 women that die in childbirth annually (most without pain meds) and the 315,000,000 women living with painful complications such as fistulas might disagree with you.

I believe the article is correct in pointing out that when you focus on the physical elements of pain as opposed to emotional elements e.g. fear, it is easier to deal with pain.

Answer 3

women can easily take as much pain as men, they just dont go to war quite so much...I'll bet a man did this research - would you like to push a 10 lb. human being out of your body?It is absolute agony, unlike men we forget about the pain once it is gone.

Answer 4

Women take being given an injection better though!

I used to work in this pharmacy, I had a lot of fun watching young athletes (male) limping out of the nurses station, while grandmas came out smiling and waving good bye.

Answer 5

i dont think childbirth hurt i did it in a waterpool got ripped as well but only did a bit of gas and air.

my mum said it didnt hurt her either she stayed at home until she was 8 cm and gave birth at the hospital within half an hour. she was eating at the Fish and Chip shop just before the hospital even though she was that far gone cause she didnt realise

i really dont understand why loads of women get epidurals. i think it should only be used in really extreme cases. all childbirth feels like is a bit of stomachache.

Answer 6

trust me childbirth is nothing compared to what iv gone through...was at karate and got a kick and my leg lietrally snapped the wrong way and my bone popped out through the flesh...took two years to heal properly...now that ******* pain for ya

oh and you want pain....you carru it for 9 months...we pay for it for 18 years...thats a **** load of financial pain

what would you rather do...physical pain for 9 months or financial pain for 18 years??????

Answer 7

Childbirth does not need to be painful, there are plenty of painkilling drugs available, and you can always have an epidural.  But for some reason, some women seem to think it is noble to suffer, I have no idea why.

Answer 8

My mum commented it was like having a really bad cramp, and get's irritated when you hear the screaming births on TV.

But then, she's old school Irish and can open bottles with her teeth.

I think you may have a point though.... I'm sure it still hurts.

Answer 9

uhmmm hi, new mom here.  Just gave birth to twins not long ago.

It's really not a matter of what YOU choose to believe or not. Ok so you don't wish to believe childbirth is really that painful, that's cool. Let me give you the number of my brother-in-law whose hand was broken by my sister when she squeezed it so hard she literally snapped it in two. She gave birth vaginally to a 10lbs baby boy and he was stuck in the canal.

Pain really is subjective. One person may be in extreme pain for something but another person may not experience much. However, that doesn't and shouldn't take away from the pain someone does feel.

Would you like to know what happens during the average birth? I'll spare you to super gory details but basically when a woman goes into labor her body starts adjusting and moving on it's own until her pelvis opens up 10cm. Yep 10 cm that's it. Finally it's time for the baby to come out (think of being really constipated and desperately needing to p**p only this is the biggest p**p you will ever take in your life)

So the baby drops, you push with all your might and this thing the size of a small watermelon starts forcing it's way through a hole the size of a lemon. The whole time this is happening, the skin around your v****a starts stretching and tearing. Sometimes to aid the delivery process the doctor even has to cut your v****a some. Most of this is done without the aid of numbing agents or pain meds and even though you are allowed to have an epidural, don't make the mistake in believing that does more than make you slightly more comfortable. Also many women choose not to get an epidural because it can have an adverse side effect on your baby.

All this of course goes without mentioning the women who are in labor for days and have serious complications. We won't get into the horrible things they have to go through.

So you see darling, while you may wish to believe childbirth is not a painful process, the rest of the world goes on living in reality. Childbirth is not only painful to many  but it's also deadly to many. If childbirth wasn't a very serious matter then the mortality rate for pregnant women wouldn't have been so high.

Show a little respect to your mother and the other women who fight to bring life into this world everyday.

Answer 10

I wished to god that men could feel the pain from childbirth.

The pain is a different pain than anything else that I have experienced. The pain from cold/hot water is something that is a whole other kind of pain.

Men complain about passing a stone. Very very rarely does you tissue actually tear from passing a kidney stone. Women on the other hand tear very often. Your hip bones actually spread from childbirth.

There is nothing that men can compare that to. Women can't share the pain with men about a swift kick in the nuts but I would guess that it's about close. The only diffrence is that childbirth pain lasts longer.

Answer 11

Pain is a perception and we really don't have a good grasp on the physiologic basis for why some have a higher threshold for physical "pain" than others.  Much of the reported discomfort or "pain" is attributed to visceral contraction of the uterus.

There are numerous occurences of deficient or absent pain receptors in women and, frankly, this places the patient at risk of injury (burns, lacs, etc.)  This is consistent with Evolutionary principles as they pertain to the advancement of more fit offspring as as result of selective pressures.

Modern Feminists do not hold natural order in high regard and generally dismiss Darwinian Evolutionary Theory.

Typically vaginal delivery is at least uncomfortable and more often "painful" to the patient (at least by physically quantifiable paramenteres, HR, BP, Resp rate, etc.)

In a woman who is exceptionally fearful of pain, we can obviate much of this discomfort using, for example, epidural blocks or even pudendal blocks.

Here's the technique (be sure that you are licensed to perform this beforehand):  http://www.ncpainmanagement.com/Pudendal...

Answer 12

Hi lol well that article doesnt know what they are going on about, how can you compare normal pain like headaches etc to childbirth, we might have a lower pain tolerance but as men cannot go thorught childbirth at all how do you work out that a man would be able to cope as well as a woman would. doh.

I disagree with your questions as a man will never experiance that but I do agree that men probably can take pain more than us as they are more stronger than us etc but when a bloke gets ill you can tell what wimps they are luck at what happens with a bloke and the common cold, they winge and moan, whereas us women still manange to go shopping do the cleaning take care of the kids etc

Answer 13

As men feel that they can comment, with authority, on anything and everything pertaining to women why do you ask questions to which you believe you already know the answers to?

Because all pain is exactly the same isn't it? Childbirth, having a tooth removed without anaesthetic, being knocked out, having a limb ripped off, or simply a mild headache...the study would have covered all of those things...lol oh! and shark attack, I bet women cry more when they are bitten by those...lol

And perhaps the reason you have been taken by all this is that so many of the women you may have been intimate with in your life have suffered terribly from headaches....every night!

Answer 14

Whatever !  I would add that the assessment of the degree of pain is irrelevant unless you intend to give birth yourself and hope that the pain would be quite easy to bear given that you are a male. Please do try and tell us about it, and since you are at it, tell us how you cope with the pregnancy, the breastfeeding etc...

Answer 15

The v****a  opening becomes extremely elsatic before birth. Moreover the body of mother release several harmones which act as natural anelgesics which suppresses a lot of pain.

It is interesting that of all the mammals only humans have highest pregnancy pain and other such complications at the time of birth. The ratio of v****a opening to that of the baby popping out is much lower in humans than in most other mammals. It would be interesting to know the biological/evolutionary reasons.

Answer 16

Pain perception is a very individual thing.  A person's attitude going in to the birth experience can have a significant influence over the perception of pain. Each birth is also a unique experience, and may carry  different "absolute quantities" of pain.

I think we can agree that the birth process is  a demanding endurance event, not unlike a marathon.  Reasonable measures should be taken to provide comfort to the woman in labor.

Answer 17

We should then conclude that women must go through a lot of pain during childbirth:

Lower pain threshold + painful delivery = lots of pain

See, the equation is easy. And of course if women have a threshold that leaves childbirth painful and only women will ever give birth anyway, then again we conclude that childbirth is very painful.  

Answer 18

Have you had a baby to know the pain? Let me tell you child birth is very painful and can go on for hours, women have a better pain threshold than men.If women had the first child and men had the second if it was left to men there would be no third child.

Answer 19

My friend had to go to the hospital for a kidney stone, and I somehow doubt that the ratio of kidney stone to urethra is equal to the ratio of baby to vaginal canal.

He said he couldn't even see the kidney stone that caused his misery.

Hum.

Answer 20

Well you are very stupid.

As Coruchi Doggie said, pain is a perception, the fact that you might feel less pain, does not make it less painful for others.

You will never give birth to a child, and you will never now how much pain women feel...so this is even dumber then the dumb.

You are making no sense, the problem isn't how much pain men would feel, it's how much they feel.

Troll? Or just dumb? dunno

Answer 21

I've heard women claim they naturally have a higher threshold for pain- with the example being the ability to withstand childbirth.  Ask women why they are (even at the professional level) not as intense in sports and they'll tell you that women naturally are more sensitive to pain and therefore have a lower threshold.    

... now I don't know what to belive :(  

Answer 22

I will say this..I have given birth with gas and air..naturally..It did hurt. I have worked with women while they are giving birth. someone men go on like they are delivering the baby themselves. All I say to you is this...imagine a big hard watermelon coming out of your backside...then imagine the watermelon getting stuck...so the midwives decided to give you a 'little' cut to allow the watermelon pass through more easily..that still doesn't work so they decided to use something like salad tossers up you bum to get the watermelon out....some men think they are dying when they have the cold..that's why nature gave women the ability to give birth..Nature knew women were strong enough and capable of giving birth.Many women do it several times over. If men had to give birth... i think they would only do it once and nobody would have siblings...respect women for the ability that they have to carry a baby and bring it into the world....

Answer 23

How about someone sticks a 8 pound bowling ball up your nose and then you can tell women it is not painful.  All women are built different, babies come in all sizes, sometimes the two are very bad fits and cesareans need to be performed

Answer 24

Women say child birth is painful, but personally women just want the attention lol

Most women will compare childbirth pain to a man being kicked in the testicles? But in reality giving birth to a child isn't that painful! Its just women like to have something they can use against men and say how terrible it is.

Come on ladies, lets see those thumbs down (i love it...lol)

Answer 25

how misinformed you are. a men would not be able to stand the pain of childbirth for the simple reason, he isnt programmed for this type of pain. its a rather irrelevant comparison.

Answer 26

First of all that is a load of c**p. I have given birth 4 times naturally with out drugs. I am a super hero! Labor pains takes over your entire body. The thing is this. You either take the pain meds and get through it with little to no pain or you suck it up and roll with it. I would like to think that pain tolerance is up to the individual not men or women. I am sure that there are lots of men that could go through child birth naturally and lots of women do get pain medication. It all depends on your personal level of tolerance not your s*x.  

Answer 27

This post doesn't make any sense at ALL,  Even if women CAN'T stand pain as much as men; it doesn't mean that childbirth isn't painful.  What a stupid thing to say. I would like to give any man that makes a statement like this, a real hard kick in the genitals, and see how high his pain threshold is then!!!

Ridiculous!

Answer 28

Please note that the link was made by only ONE study done at ONE university in Bath. Men may be stronger but this doesn't mean they can withstand more pain. Please note also that in an experiment such as this one the women who took part may just have been more honest and not as competetive to be the best at withstanding pain. Egos do not get in the way where as for men, it is more important to not appear like a whimp as this is what society demands. The fact that the women endured the pain less then, is because they did not have the same motivation as men to withstand it for longer than they felt necessary. The claim that "women experience a greater number of pain episodes across their lifespan than men, in more bodily areas and with greater frequency" does not mean they're wimps! It means they go through more and report it more e.g. childbirth, waxing, (monthly) periods ECT. The claim that "Women tend to report pain at lower thresholds than men" is a misleading statement as it suggests that this is because women cannot stand pain when in fact it is more likely they just REPORT pain more often than men because men are often too proud in Western society to go to a doctor. Furthermore, the claim that far more women attend pain clinics than men fails to make the reader aware that, as a result of this, women die from less treatable illnesses than men and doesn't mean men do not feel pain as much as women do. Thus, This is not a case of cause-and-effect but of correlation. A correlation that can't just be explained by women having lower pain threshold but by women reporting pain and being more sensible about what they experience i.e. going to a doctor and getting trreated if the pain is caused by something serious.

Therefore, it cannot be said that women should not be believed about the pain they experience during child birth. Many women have varying degrees of pain during this experience for a number of reasons which should not be belittled. I could pick up another random report that the bbc decided to air that stated the opposite to the one you chose. Lone reports cannot be trusted unless they are within the context of supporting texts.

Answer 29

clearly you must be single with comments like this,

try pushing something the size if a football out of your a**s for 20 or more hours then maybe you could be close to the amount of pain giving birth naturally is.

silly fool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 30

Are you freaking kidding me? You go ahead and p**p out a watermelon out of your wiener then come back to us and rewrite this question.

Answer 31

Jackie M: kick a guy in the testicles, and I guarantee that by whatever means we could use to measure pain, it is at least as bad as childbirth.  Questioning the pain of childbirth is not at all worthy of a violation: sorry, you are being petty.

Saying that men cannot understand what true pain is (because we don't give birth), is assuming:

1.  Childbirth by vaginal delivery is indeed the most intense pain one could suffer.  That is not the view of pain specialists, by and large, but childbirth is subjective, as is the pain that results.

2.  That you can directly correlate pain pain from different sources and compare them.  Men cannot give birth.  Women cannot get wounded testicles.  It is not really possible to compare them fairly.

Personally, having worked in a birthing unit at a major hospital, I think childbirth, especially extended labour is certainly painful, and more or less so depending on any number of factors.  I have seen quick and easy births and three day deliveries.  Im sure the pain levels differed, one from the other.

Whether men can suffer similar pain is open to conjecture, but many women also report that kidney stones are worse than birth pains (in their opinion), and some men view testicular injury at least as bad as kidney stones too.  Having had both (more than 30 stones too!), I still hesitate to compare.