Harry Kane: putting his foot in it
Given his heroics during England’s glorious World Cup run, you’d have thought Harry Kane could do no wrong with the English public, said Steve Myall in the Daily Mirror. Not so. After the birth of his daughter last week, the England captain sparked a firestorm of criticism for tweeting that he was “proud” of his fiancée for having a water birth “with no pain relief at all”. Rather than seeing this for what it was – an excited new father “in awe of his partner” – the social media mob castigated Kane for “demeaning” women who take pain medication during labour. Their “absurd” overreaction was a lesson to us all: “Woe betide the man who expresses a sound, let alone an opinion, on childbirth.”
The reason Kane’s comment touched such a nerve, said Barbara Ellen in The Observer, is because it reflects the “toxic culture of natural childbirth machismo”. Too many people – women as well as men – openly look down on those who opt for pain relief. They hold the misguided belief that by “rather sensibly avoiding agony”, these women are failing some “entirely fabricated test of their primal mettle”. It’s utter nonsense. There isn’t a “right way” or a wrong way to give birth; all that matters is that mother and child emerge safely.
In fairness, it’s heartening to see Kane and other men “involved” in the birth process, said Chloe Lambert in The Daily Telegraph. Some 95% of dads-to-be are now present for the delivery. But what’s less welcome is them turning labour into “a competitive sport”. You see them in prenatal classes, “fiercely scribbling in their notebooks”, showing off their “knowledge of the cervix”, and desperately competing to be “the best rhythmic breather”. When I was pregnant, my husband even told me, while casually sipping a beer, that he had a “feeling” I’d be “really good” at giving birth. I know they’re only trying to help – but labour really is tough enough without men “weighing in” on “how best to do it”. Dads and dads-to-be should stick to a simple rule, said Martin Hemming in The Sunday Times. “When it comes to women’s bodies, especially how things may or may not come out of them”, it’s always best to “stay well out of it”.