Sukhi Patel Nathwani
This podcast episode surrounds the topic of “the husband stitch”, a medical procedure that can be performed on women after childbirth without their consent, where a doctor will add an extra stitch during vaginal repair after childbirth to tighten the opening in order to increase pleasure for the patient’s male sexual partner during penetration. It is medically unnecessary and is now considered an act of medical malpractice, however, it continues to occur today.
Transcript
She describes the effects of the stitching afterwards as being even more painful than the labor itself.
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Hello, and welcome back to “For Everyone but Her”, a podcast where we critically analyze the practices and roles women have historically been expected to adopt to please the men in their lives and raise awareness about these topics. I’m your host, Sukhi Patel Nathwani, and today we’re going to be talking about “the husband stitch.”
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The husband stitch is a medical procedure that’s performed on individuals without their consent after childbirth, where a doctor will add an extra stitch during vaginal repair after an episiotomy to tighten the opening to increase pleasure for the patient’s male partner during intercourse. The husband stitch is medically unnecessary and can cause a lot of painful and harmful side effects, which is why it is considered medical malpractice. Despite this, many do have to face its consequences even today.
It is unclear to what extent the procedure has been historically practiced, as it is not something that’s been extensively recorded. Additionally, these procedures can be explained away as pure carelessness or can be absolved as due to improper training rather than a purposeful non-consensual modification to one’s body; therefore, it’s hard to prove. There are likely many parents walking around today who are suffering from the effects of the husband stitch without even knowing it.
We can find more information, however, on episiotomies, which can result in a doctor choosing to perform a husband stitch. Episiotomies are the act of adding an incision to the perineum during childbirth to enlarge the vaginal opening to assist deliveries. It first came into regular use in the 1920s. Still, by the 80s, studies emerged proving that it can lead to more damage than natural tearing, and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) advised that there was no situation in which it was medically essential. However, it remains a commonly practiced tradition today.
Listener, you may be thinking that by now there has been an advancement in research about the husband stitch; however, that is unfortunately not the case. Not only is the husband stitch still not medically defined, but there have also been no clinical studies published about it, and few have even mentioned it. Many OB/GYNs, however, have looked into this and concluded that it is not even possible to make the opening tighter by adding an extra stitch, as tone and tightness come more from the pelvic floor. This means that doctors practicing the husband stitch not only cause women unnecessary pain by objectifying them and modifying their bodies, but this method also does not even succeed in reaching their goals. Women’s health is consistently neglected in science, and this is just one of many examples of this. We don’t even know how often it happens, as while it doesn’t appear to be a prevalent practice, it’s definitely more than just a myth, with many accounts from women describing being stitched up too tightly post childbirth.
One example of this is Mary H, a 32-year-old woman living in San Diego whose former partner jokingly told the doctor to throw a couple extra stitches in there for him – and I want to note that it is extremely highly debated whether these types of jokes are appropriate or not, but that’s a conversation for a future episode. Nevertheless, it was made clear that the comment was made in jest, as everyone in the room laughed. However, a few weeks later, when her stitches were supposed to be healing, they felt, well, completely unhealed, and she experienced pain when going to the bathroom. Additionally, while having intercourse, the opening would continue to tear back open. These problems continued until she gave birth to her second child, and a different doctor told her the suturing was not done properly. She suspected the original doctor had performed the husband stitch on her.
The existence of the husband stitch perpetuates the harmful and inaccurate idea deeply engraved into our society that women’s bodies are meant to be objectified and exist purely to provide sexual gratification to men and to give birth to children. The lack of research and effort devoted to studying this issue is reflective of how little importance the scientific world pays to women’s health today. The side effects of the husband stitch are horrifying, and many women are suffering from these preventable consequences today, without even deciding to. It is essential to share these stories and uplift those who speak up, as well as raise awareness about the ways women’s health is ignored and dismissed. I encourage you all to have conversations with your friends and family about this topic and do some of your own research if you’re interested. And I’ll see you next week for our next discussion on “For Everyone but Her.”
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References
“Continuous versus interrupted perineal repair with standard or rapidly absorbed sutures after spontaneous vaginal birth: a randomised controlled trial,” Continuous non-locking technique (left) and interrupted method (right) of perineal repair. 2002. The Lancet. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140673602093121/fulltext.
Das, Anoushka Anoushka. 2022. “The Husband’s Stitch: A Violation of Patients’ Bodily Autonomy.” Oxford Human Rights Lab. https://ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk/the-husbands-stitch-a-violation-of-patients-bodily-autonomy/.
Halton, Mary, Ashley Fike, Sean Abrams, Macey Wolfer, Brent Koepp, Veronica Booth, Denny Connolly, and Caleb Catlin. 2018. “The ‘Husband Stitch’ Leaves Women in Pain and Without Answers.” VICE. https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-husband-stitch-real-stories-episiotomy/.
Milky Goodness. 2024. “Vaginal Tearing and Episiotomies.” Milky Goodness. https://milkygoodness.com.au/blogs/news/vaginal-tearing-and-episiotomies?srsltid=AfmBOop-T6i-ZD3i_65TohG9GFkfsBXuDPZS2MIZdzNQbd6phEtjDPWV.
Murphy, Carrie, and Debra R. Wilson. 2023. “The Husband Stitch Isn’t Just a Horrifying Childbirth Myth.” Healthline. https://www.healthline.com/health-news/husband-stitch-is-not-just-myth.
National Organization for Women. 2021. “The Objectification of Women’s Bodies in Healthcare: The Husband Stitch.” National Organization for Women. https://now.org/blog/the-objectification-of-womens-bodies-in-healthcare-the-husband-stitch/.
Subiyanto, Ketut. 2020. “Woman Hiding Her Face in Hands.” Pexels. https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-hiding-her-face-in-hands-4584061/.
