Any birth attendants who feels otherwise simply shouldn't be birth attendants. To get to this animal state of release, one must feel safe in her environment- as well as with her birth attendants. Being aware of who is looking at you will keep your mind off of what is going in deep inside of you. This loss of autonomy passes the control of the birth process over to attendants- who care less about the women they profess to serve than the time and monetary profit that come with completely controlling the birth process. Jo asked if sexual abuse as a child would affect her birth.
Past abuse matters greatly when giving birth.
Women, having lost the power of NO as girls, suffer profoundly when they are stripped of their powers by bizarre, hostile birth protocols and indifferent, callous birth attendants. But there is a place of healing in birth- from past birth abuse for the women who've had it, but also from past sexual abuse. We finally begin growing into the women we are intended to become. We create a fantastic place of limitless possibility within ourselves. Jo had better find out now, not later, if her midwives will respect her wishes, and her body.