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Husband stitch

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The husband stitch or husband's stitch refers to a surgical procedure where one or more sutures (stitches) more than necessary are used to repair the perineum of a woman that has been torn or cut (the latter being episiotomy) during childbirth, in order to tighten the vagina and enhance the pleasure of her male sex partner during penetrative intercourse.[1]

While repair of the perineum may be medically necessary, the extra stitch is not, and can subsequently cause discomfort for the woman, during sex.[2][3] There are also reports of the procedure occurring without the woman's consent.[2] As such it is regarded as a feminist issue.[1][4]

Use of the term occured as early as 1885.[5]

A short story in Carmen Maria Machado's Her Body and Other Parties is called "The Husband Stitch", and describes a woman undergoing the procedure.[6][7]

References

  1. ^ a b Gruenbaum, Ellen (2001). The Female Circumcision Controversy: An Anthropological Perspective. The preference for tightness during intercourse is so well known in Western culture that U.S. obstetricians even have a term for the extra stitch they often perform when doing episiotomy repairs following childbirth: the "husband's stitch." The husband's stitch is intended to produce a smaller vaginal opening, to counteract the natural stretching of the tissues from sexual activity and childbirth and even to make the opening more constricted than it might have been before.
  2. ^ a b "The Husband Stitch". Mama Birth. 28 July 2013. Retrieved 15 October 2017.
  3. ^ Vinopal, Lauren (17 August 2017). "Are Husbands and Doctors Conspiring to Sew New Moms Up Too Tight?". Fatherly. Retrieved 15 October 2017.
  4. ^ Jones, Kate. "Stitching Feminism and Fairytale". Thresholds. Retrieved 15 October 2017.
  5. ^ Transactions of the Texas State Medical Association. 1885. Dr. Geo. Cupples was called upon to explain the "Husband Stitch," which he did as follows: He said that when he was stitching up a ruptured perineum, of a married lady, the husband was an anxious and interested observer, and when he had taken all the stitches necessary, the husband peeped over his shoulders and said, "Dr., can't you take another stitch?" and he did, and called it the "Husband Stitch."
  6. ^ Dykema, Jane (10 October 2017). "What I Don't Tell My Students About 'The Husband Stitch". Electric Literature. Retrieved 15 October 2017.
  7. ^ Machado, Carmen Maria (28 October 2014). "The Husband Stitch". Granta Magazine. Retrieved 15 October 2017.
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