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Pain in childbirth served a very important function…it was the punishment that befell women who became too educated, too independent…The idea that "primitive" women had painless childbirth was fabricated to contrast with the painful childbirth of "overcivilized" women.

Grantly Dick-Read was issuing a warning to women of a certain social class: if you step beyond the roles prescribed for women, you will be punished with painful labor…

In light of this, the contemporary popularity of natural childbirth is more than a bit ironic. The central claims of natural childbirth, that childbirth is not inherently painful, and that if you "prepare" properly, your birth will be painless, too, were utter fabrications. Read would be delighted that these fabrications have been embraced by many women and that his philosophy has been propagated so successfully that most women don't even realize that the central tenets of natural childbirth are racist and sexist lies.

"in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee" (Genesis 3:16).

This was used to justify why childbirth was painful.