Orkney custom, a pregnancy must be kept a secret to prevent the fairies from finding out about the baby and causing harm to the mother or child

n our own culture, we find doctors and hospitals continuing to perform procedures that studies have demonstrated as unnecessary or harmful because of a pervasive belief that it is necessary or important for the health of the mother. We have seen the ending of the pubic shave and the enema, but episiotomies are still performed as "necessary" to prevent damage to the perineum without any understanding that an episiotomy itself damages the perineum.