I have just noticed this thread.As Red-eva has already pointed out, in childbirth midwives or doctors will sometimes make a deliberate cut ( episiotomy) through the side of the vagina to avoid it tearing;which can happen If the baby is large and the vaginal wall does not stretch enough. In the worst kind of tear it goes right through to the anus and rectum ,joining them up. This needs to be repaired surgically and can be quite a difficult procedure sometimes. If any tears in muscles are left, they heal with scar tissue which is lax and weak e.g. womens vaginal walls after childbirth in the third world where incontinence is common. There is a story '' Candice '' by Stephen Rawlings in which his sub girl is sent to an arab prince's palace for surgical remodelling of her anus so that ''the opening was edged by a roll of dark rubbery flesh, its cross-section rather thicker than a pencil and the whole forming an oval, about 3 cm long,raised above the floor of the buttock valley a little, and looking for all the world like a small red sea anenome left straned by the tide''.The purpose was to produce a thick protective anal ring that could be easily stretched to 2 inches diameter without risk of splitting. the downside was a tendency to incontinence, and for the Candice the fact that the operation was deliberately carried out with her in full consciousness in order for her to experience all the pain. ''it happened again and again, the sites of the anguish travelling round the stretched perimeter of her anus.....it seemed to go on for ever.Helga was taking in strips of the sorrounding skin and incorporating them into the anal ring, to give it bulk and strength. .....When Helga cauterised the worst of the bleeding with an electrically heated wire, Candice honked through the gag, and again when she finished off with surgical staples to hold the whole assembly together''. Enough to make one's eyes water at the thought of it- strictly fantasy, although no doubt feasible . It was published by olympia press and may still be available on-line from ''' Olympia@bound.demon.co.uk'' e-mail; --web site www.olympia-press.co.ukOriginally Posted by naomi