00:00:00.000Today's episode of Diabolical Lies is brought to you by the Mayflower, the Salem Witch Trials,
00:00:05.700Anne Hutchinson, Cotton Mather, a dirty pair of 17th-century forceps, a pair of unwashed hands,
00:00:12.060my personal obsession with the days of yesteryear—how's that for smooth product placement—and
00:00:17.020of course, the listeners. I feel like we haven't shouted them out recently in our intro, and I just
00:00:21.480wanted to celebrate the people who support this project. As a reminder, we don't take
00:00:25.980any advertisements or paid sponsorships, and so all of this is thanks to you guys.
00:00:30.000Tell me why when you said Anne Hutchison, my brain immediately went to Anne Hathaway, and I was like, oh, we're getting two product placements.
00:00:36.720No, I'm talking about the 17th century woman who was a midwife and also a preacher and was tried for her war crimes.
00:00:43.160A few friendly reminders today before we begin this conversation.
00:00:46.720Number one, we are podcasters and not doctors or midwives.
00:00:54.500We are talking about the cultural and political implications of that history.
00:00:57.620and we are not talking about what any person should do when it comes to personal decisions
00:01:02.700related to pregnancy and childbirth. From epidurals to warm water inflatable tubs in
00:01:08.080the living room, that is your bag to be discussed with the doctor or midwife or birthing team of
00:01:13.040your choosing. Number two, any conversation about childbirth on this podcast is going to
00:01:18.540come with the necessary trigger warning, which is enter this conversation if you want to be
00:01:23.940having this conversation at this point in your life. We are going to be talking today about
00:01:27.580how birth works. We're going to discuss medical challenges and realities related to it. And some
00:01:33.180of that will be graphic. And every person should make their own decision about whether or not they
00:01:37.240want to participate in that conversation at this point. This podcast never aims to be senselessly
00:01:42.760graphic, but I do also want to be very clear-eyed about the realities of pregnancy, the roles of
00:01:47.900midwives and doctors, and the realities of childbirth. And that's what we're going to do
00:01:51.600today. So for anyone who isn't in the headspace for that conversation for whatever reason,
00:01:56.060that's totally fine. Come back later when you are, or we'll see you in the next episode.
00:02:01.620And for anyone who's ready to get into it, let us get into it.
00:02:05.060And I would like to add my own personal disclaimer that this is a topic that I
00:02:08.860know nothing about and have no opinions about. So I guess I'm in a perfect position to talk about it
00:02:16.200for two hours. Well, my goal is to corner you rhetorically into a position where you have to
00:02:21.460argue an opinion you're not even sure you have, JK. I already feel dumb. And that is my least
00:02:25.920favorite way to feel. So giddy up, I suppose. So Katie, as you know very well, some of my
00:02:32.920longstanding interests have to do with sexuality and family and the body. I have mentioned on the
00:02:39.480podcast before that I'm very interested in childbirth. The more I learn about all these
00:02:44.320topics from the most personal sense to the most global sense, the more I find them fascinating
00:02:48.520in the way that they constantly seem to defy ideology to me. And at the same time, these are
00:02:53.600the topics that are constantly exploited by varying ideologies, often to profoundly contradictory
00:02:59.200effect. So we talked about this specifically with the Lily Phillips episode. We dipped into
00:03:04.620sexuality then. We've talked about family in the pro-natalism episode. But we have not yet talked
00:03:09.840about childbirth, and that changes today. Good. Gonna turn all you boys to men today.
00:03:15.800This is the beginning of what I hope will be an ongoing conversation about what it means to give birth in America. The title is kind of a gotcha. There's, of course, no correct way to give birth ever. But I do think that there are some really interesting themes that we are going to see brought out today in terms of modern versus historical context for what it means to give birth.
00:03:35.500This is what I was thinking about, Katie, moving forward as what I'm going to call a guys drink free episode, where it's like technically about women, but there is so much information that I'm like, you're welcome, boys.
00:03:47.680This is the crash course that you have been looking for in childbirth.
00:03:51.420Is this where we're going to learn about how many holes there are?