That is the question that more and more women are asking themselves these days. The C of course refers to a C section, as in Caesarean. They are now to be given the option of opting for a caesarean for reasons other than it being a medical requirement.
How can women be prepared to give up the right to a vaginal birth? How can they relinquish the power to ridicule their men folk every time they complain that they have some sort of pain?
Many an argument between me and my other half has been brought to a resounding end when she played her trump card of "You can't talk about pain until you've squeezed an 8lb baby out of a hole in your body which is smaller than your mouth. Even your mouth."
Replace "squeezed" with "had lifted", and "is smaller than your mouth" with "has been skilfully cut by a qualified surgeon to facilitate the removal of a baby," and I now have a comeback. And a much better comeback than the one we men have used until now, in reply to the accusation that we will never know the pain of childbirth.
A kick in the nuts is how we have, until now, had to refute the claim that we will never know the pain a woman puts herself through in order to allow civilisation to exist. But if we are being true to ourselves, we will admit that we really only use this because it is the one thing that woman can't compare childbirth to.
"You don't have nuts, so you don't know. NA NA NA NA NA!"
Any man who claims to really believe this makes OJ Simpson look like a credible witness for the defence. Sure it hurts, but no more than having your thumb jammed in the car door, or standing on an upturned plug on the way to the toilet in the middle of the night.
SHUT UP! I hear you all screaming at me now. Don't tell them that, it's our only defence, the only thing we have to throw back at them. A kick in the crotch is to us what wings of steel were to Batfink.
Ah, but we don't need it any more, my friends. We now have a list of things we can come back with. Anybody who has had a wisdom tooth pulled out, appendicitis, or tonsils removed can relate to the ordeal of having a controlled operation under anaesthetic.
If it was up to me, I'd let them all have a caesarean birth, it is much easier for us blokes. First of all, if we are only going to be a spectator as the doctor works his magic, then there will be no need to subject ourselves to the torture that goes by the name of ante natal classes. No more massaging our loved ones back as she complains about lumber pain through hours of labour, causing hand cramps for us that can't be far off the pain of natural birth. Births will be planned, meaning no more burst waters on the passenger seat of our cars. And daytime births, instead of all nighters that we haven't been able to handle since our days of dancing to Paul Oakenfold in Hangar 10.
I guess as women try harder to succeed in a world that is dominated by men, they will try to do what they can to find parity. It looks like they will get one step closer to that equality by giving up the claim to know what it is like to go through labour.
That is fine, but they'll still never know how sore a kick in the balls is.