Why does childbirth still hurt? Shouldn't we have evolved to have less pain with childbirth by now, or developed another method altogether of giving birth (aside from c-section)?
The religious excuse would of course be Eve's punishment, but any Darwin fans have thoughts on this?
2007-04-21 01:33:00 · 10 answers · asked by Chickgeek 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Biology
It's purely trade-off. Big brains need big heads. Painful childbirth for evolved intelligence. (Although I have to wonder about intelligence when people are still talking about the "Punishing Eve" myth)
Big brains have another effect too. Totally helpless babies born before they are ready.
The evolutionary trade-off is a head big enough to hold a big brain to improve survival without killing too many women in childbirth, thus having the opposite effect.
2007-04-21 03:24:41 · answer #1 · answered by Joan H 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Well we humans have circumvented the natural process. So if you don't want to endure the pain of giving birth, have a Cesarean. It's better for both mom and child. And that also shoots down any of that religious crap.
What kinda god punishes women? More like a man thing.
Mammals generally have low reproductive rates. Most of the energy and resources of the mother are for bringing new life.
There is a great variety among individuals. Some mothers bear children with little pain. Some don't. I would not be at all surprised, to see that someday, someone finds a gene in women that give birth without complications, that would explain it all. After all, it seems to me that some women are baby makers and some are not.
2007-04-21 01:55:18 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
It might also be some sort of a biological check. Seriously, the world is way overpopulated as it is now. Perhaps the pain is an incentive for women to have fewer children.
Childbirth isn't fun for other species, either, especially when complications arise (baby turned around, umbilical cord wrapped the wrong way, etc). In some cases, even fertilizatoin (sex) hurts: cats yowl when they're having sex because the penis is barbed, which helps stimulate the female cat to uptake the sperm but also hurts like hell.
2007-04-21 01:58:44 · answer #3 · answered by Sci Fi Insomniac 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
As the human form became upright the need to support the intestines and other internal organs shifted from hanging down in the belly like chimps to hanging more in the pelvic region. The boney support in that region is gradually filling in. An additional thought is that as medical science improved/s we have C-section births and (from a biological perspective) individuals with problems don't die and "weed out" the problems as survival of the fittest would in species that don't have intervention. Also, don't discount religion just because of various organized groups' interpretation of religion...ie don't close your mind!
2007-04-21 01:53:36 · answer #4 · answered by VM W 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Actually childbirth is technically more painful than a million years ago....its all in relation to the head....H.sapiens head is pretty big compared to all other early homonids (EXCEPT H. neaderthalensis) and babies have to be born earlier that in other species, otherwise it "Fidn't dit"...We also have higher death rates in Human births (for both mother and child) because of this reason.
2007-04-21 15:58:42 · answer #5 · answered by mareeclara 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
As one person said, evolution takes a long take to take effect and we don't have a lot of natural selection moving us towards that direction. People get epidurals and c-sections and with our advanced medical care, it is not nearly as common for women to die during childbirth. Marsupials have solved the labor problem, but their young are EXTREMELY altricial. So, it is like some have said, it is a trade off.
2007-04-21 07:48:27 · answer #6 · answered by Arya 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It's a simple question of trade offs. The evolution of our species has had to balance between large brains and bipedalism. A smaller brain, smaller skull, would mean an even longer and more vulnerable childhood, and a wider hip splay would affect the ability to walk upright and run. As for God punishing Eve and her daughters, why would She do that?
2007-04-21 01:48:01 · answer #7 · answered by Old Punk Dad 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Adaptations only occur when they are needed for survival. Women had children despite the pain, so there was no need to evolve.
Plus, if the vagina was large enough to have a painless childbirth, intercourse would most likely be less satisfying, meaning women would have less sex (in theory), and less children.
2007-04-21 01:44:46 · answer #8 · answered by smelly pickles 4 · 0⤊ 2⤋
as much as i go along with darwin i would like to make this an exception and go along with the eve punishment story because i would have done the same thing
2007-04-21 01:41:16 · answer #9 · answered by Saint Lucipher 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋
evolution takes a couple of thousand years to take place. it hurts because of the extra stretching of the (you know what) that hurts
2007-04-21 01:39:58 · answer #10 · answered by suspectnkonvict 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋