And if giving birth in pain could be avoided thanks to ... masturbation? In any case, this is the positive experience reported by the illustrator Gayelle who publishes on Facebook a mini-comic entitled "The forgotten clitoris of childbirth".

During contractions, clitoral masturbation would indeed facilitate the push and the work of the mother. The caresses towards the vulva increase the production of oxytocin, the hormone of love and attachment, but also of endorphin, the hormone of pleasure and well-being, which is also recognized by science as being an excellent painkiller.

Gayelle writes: "The thrust was a real pleasure, not really an orgasm, but the sensation was incredible to say the least."

In May 2013, the clinical psychologist and sexologist Thierry Postel indicated in a study based on a sample of 206,000 deliveries, that "obstetric pleasure was declared by the mother in more than 0.3% of deliveries". A figure that corresponds to 668 women, who confessed to their midwives having felt pleasure during the birth of their child.

A subject that remains taboo

This subject, the illustrator Gayelle has so far little discussed with others. "Not because of shame, but because it's not always well known and perceived," she says.

Indeed, female masturbation remains a taboo subject in our current societies to Judeo-Christian heritage, regrets the designer. And all the more so when it is linked to childbirth, mixing notions of sexuality and birth. Now, do not mix the two. "It would be like enjoying on the baby's head!" Jokes Gayelle.

But some countries are trying to open up to this practice. In Quebec, midwives recommend it more and more to calm the suffering, whether for a home birth or hospital.