What is the ‘husband stitch’ and what is its relation to child birth?

After childbirth, it is not uncommon for many new mothers to undergo post-birth repair.

If a woman's perineum is torn, or cut via episiotomy, during vaginal childbirth, stitches may have to be administered post-birth to repair the perineum. In some cases, however, an extra stitch is given to increase the pleasure of the male partner. The 'husband stitch' or 'daddy stitch' is an unnecessary and nonconsensual procedure that can cause discomfort, trauma, and even extreme pain to those who receive it. While it tends to be seen as an urban legend, an irrational fear, or even a 'joke,' the stitch is a very real issue for many new mothers around the world. A recent article published by Heathline detailed the experiences of some of the women who had been given the extra stitch post-birth without their consent. One woman, Sarah Harkin from New Orleans, said that in 2005 her family doctor told her husband she was getting an extra stitch to "make her nice and tight." “I was so out of it physically, emotionally, and mentally," she said. "The doctor said it to him. Not to me… I was just lying there like a lump." Another woman, Tamara Williams from Texas, was given the stitch in 2015. Her boyfriend later told her that he thought he heard the midwife say "throw in an extra stitch for him," before winking. The term 'husband stitch' has only been used once in medical literature in the mid-nineteenth century. In Transactions of the Texas State Medical Association, it's stated that when a doctor was stitching up a ruptured perineum, the woman's husband is said to have leaned over and asked: "Dr, can't you take another stitch?" The doctor, Dr Geo Cupples, did so and named his procedure accordingly. There is no medical evidence suggesting that an extra stitch post-birth is necessary or of any benefit to a new mother. Some women even found that they had been stitched up too tight and that neither they, nor their partner, had been informed. Healthline reports that Angela Sanford from South Carolina discovered that she had had the stitch five years after giving birth when sex became "excruciating." "My husband has been worried about me and fearful of hurting me. He would never have asked for this," she said. The husband stitch began gaining attention online in 2014 due to the publication of a story in Granta. In it, author Carmen Maria Machado writes of a woman who receives a husband stitch post-birth despite her "slurred" protestations. It reads:

"- How much to get that extra stitch? he asks. You offer that, right? "- Please, I say to him. But it comes out slurred and twisted and possibly no more than a small moan. Neither man turns his head toward me. "The doctor chuckles. You aren’t the first -"