In Defense of Witches: The Legacy of the Witch Hunts and Why Women Are Still on Trial

by Mona Chollet

Another problematic ritual: the parade of medical personnel who show up when a woman is in the midst of giving birth and each in turn insert two fingers into her vagina to assess her cervical dilation, without requesting consent nor even informing her beforehand, and sometimes without being overly gentle either. Lahaye invites us to imagine the equivalent for other body parts: you are at the dentist and, at regular intervals, unfamiliar people come into the room and insert their fingers into your mouth; or you are seeing a specialist for a rectal exam and a dozen people take turns putting their finger into your anus … “Such a practice,” Lahaye concludes, “is inconceivable in any of the medical disciplines except obstetrics, the one that’s all about access to women’s genitals.”50 We see here, in an extreme form, the assumption that women’s bodies belong to everyone but themselves, which is found to differing degrees throughout society and explains why we are not expected to kick up a fuss over the odd pat on the bottom.

Great argument here. Every patient should be asked for consent if anyone besides their assigned physician is going to participate in an exam. Every patient should have the right to refuse.