Postpartum depression often results. Men dismiss the women's unhappiness as a normal part of women's lives - and trivialize the anguish. It is not the number of obstetrical events that leads to a greater incidence of unhappiness. A short labour doesn't necessarily make the woman happier. Women must feel that they have a right to have their feelings heard, and to be acknowledged.
Women often feel violated - and use the language of rape to describe their experience.
Sheila's daughter Polly is a rape counselor in Britain. Another daughter Jenny is a social anthropologist and was writing a book on child survivors of abuse. Her daughters did a study looking at the language women used when describing their difficult births. All 345 women used some description which was linked to rape. Induction of labour was seen as disempowering and discouraging.