Orgasmic Birth certainly is a grabber of a title. Those aren't two words normally found close together in a sentence. In our culture, other adjectives are more common. Painful Childbirth. Traumatic Childbirth.
So it's no surprise that Debra Pascalli-Bonaro's film Orgasmic Birth has become the center of some controversy. It was featured on a segment of ABC's January 2nd episode of 20/20 about "Extreme Birth" and a few weeks ago The New York Times picked a up story on the movie, which caused a flurry of comments and sent a small shockwave through the blogosphere.
Pascalli-Bonaro says she wishes some critics who just seem to see the title would actually see the film.
"It's really about the range of choices women have for experiencing birth, some of which most women aren't even aware of. There are eleven couples featured in the movie. Some use words like 'pain' and 'fear' to describe their experience but others use 'transformative', 'blissful', and 'spiritual'. Two of them use the word 'orgasmic'. This sounds strange in our culture because we're used to seeing birth dealt with on an illness model, rather than a wellness model. Birth is part of a woman's sexual life."
"There are benefits to the mother beyond helping them rid themselves of shame, fear and guilt. An orgasm is 22 times more powerful than a tranquilizer and during sexual arousal a woman's vagina can widen as much as two inches. When women find their power during the birth experience and learn to ride the contractions, it can be an incredible, even healing experience."
The 'normal' way that women in the United States give birth - laying prone in a room full of strangers - is not the natural way. It might even be the cause of some birth problems. Shanley cites a study that showed that when a stranger enters a room where a pregnant monkey is housed, :both the heart rate and the blood pressure of her fetus goes down. Of course, in the delivery room a drop in the heart rate of the baby often triggers a Cesarean section."
Shanley says that stress and 'fight or flight' reactions cause huge changes in a woman's body. "There's a reason that animals seek seclusion in birth. Everyone understands that being in a brightly lit room with a group of people watching you wouldn't make a comfortable environment for someone going to the bathroom or having sex. But for an equally intimate, personal activity like birth, people don't make the connection. Woman don't need to choose between drugs, epidurals, and Cesarean sections on one hand and fear of a natural but painful childbirth on the other. There really is a third way and it's more natural."
Pascali-Bonaro says that many changes to make birth a more pleasurable, healthy experience for women are simple and inexpensive. "Americans spend more money than any other country on medical care but that doesn't mean we're getting the best care. Simple things like dimming lights, allowing the mother creative space to move around and having music, natural sounds or even just silence can make a huge difference."
Ultimately, Pascali-Bonaro says that she's an advocate of mothers making informed birth choices. Since making the film, she's learned orgasmic birth is more common than she thought. "We've screened the movie in 28 countries and women always come up to me and 'You know, I never thought about it before...but I think I had one, too!'"
Lee Stranahan is writer, filmmaker and teacher who blogs at LeeStranahan.com. His wife Lauren gave birth to their two children as unassisted, at-home births.
Follow Lee Stranahan on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Stranahan
birth is going to be different for all. for some a painful experience, for others blissful and joyful. having said that, we have given labor a bad rap, and the process of birth has become so caught up in the medical system, that it is hard to find the bliss in it, as we are so scared of the "pain". i never thought of it as pain, i experienced sensations, they had no name, they just were.
I had two hospital births and the last was done at home with my husband, a midwife and her attendant. It was amazing being home, eating food I prepared, being in my own bed, and welcoming our son into the world in our bedroom!
People who are uneducated about the safety of home births will try to dissuade you and erroneously believe hospital births are safer. I don't begrudge a woman's choice to have a hospital birth, of course. My experience with the home birth was exquisite for me and my husband.
I hope your pregnancy continues to go well! Just an afterthought to this article and the possibility of having an orgasmic experience: in hindsight, the actual pushing and delivery of all three of my babies was something I could compare to orgasmic. It was an amazing sensation, and kind of the reward for all the waiting and contractions that let up to it. Just saying...
You might change your mind once you are confronted with the actual pain of childbirth and want an epidural. Then again, you might not. If your dream is to have a water birth, you can find a doctor and a hospital where that is acceptable.
My sister-in law would have died along with her baby if it were not for a last minute C-Section. The medical professionals that you have encountered want what is in the best interest of you and your baby. I hope that you keep that in mind.
What's sort of weird is that you want to take these happy women out of their universe and bring them into yours, especially when they don't seem that interested in going. Have you considered that they might know something that you don't, not vice versa?
I'm amazed at most of the comments. Are women truly that out of touch with their sexuality and bodies that they are ready to fight the concept of orgasm during birth.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if our daughters could actually enjoy their births, instead of going in hardwired to believe birthing is a clinical, painful, dreadful process that requires drugs and days and days of recovery?
Sex and the female orgasm should stop being sources of shame and ridicule. Particularly from one woman to another. This article is intended to empower women and celebrate what our bodies are capable of. Women DO experience pleasurable births. It's a fact!
Empowering women is being truthful and supporting them before during and after birth. Giving birth is a great and moving experience but it's not what you are describing.
My daughters will hopefully research all their options and decide for themselves what path they take. There's so much positive, encouraging, new and old, information to absorb on so many levels. They certainly won't hear the sentence you put in italics from me.
I think it's empowering for women to not fear childbirth, absolutely. Fear tends to get in the way of the process.
If you read the article clearly, you'll see a really valuable message. Sex, orgasm, and birth are all interconnected for a reason. Some women experience orgasm during birth. Why is that so intimidating to you, and why are you so angry?
With all due respect, if you let go of some of your hang-ups about what you think is the ONLY way childbirth occurs, you might just open your world to a zillion opportunities.
This kind of stuff is demeaning to women. Women do so many fantastic things including having babies and this is what gets all kind of press.
And it's demeaning to women to empower them?
I had to have the induction with my first because my water broke more than 24 hours earlier and I was not progressing fast enough. I actually was at home for most of the time, so the hospital was not to blame. My second child was without induction. Still, the pain was incredible. The epidural wore off, so I felt him come through. I was like "This is not supposed to happen. The geometry is not right! How can this be normal?" What do you know, though, I had no vaginal tears or anything. It all worked out.
Trying to sexualize such a powerful and fierce experience by trivializing it as orgasmic is demeaning and not empowering. I think childbirth is powerful and we women are warriors, you wouldn't be able to tolerate it. Headline that Mr. Sensitivity.
I suppose if this is the only way that you might experience an orgasm, then great, go for it. I think it would be easier to just learn how to have a vaginal orgasm without a 7 lb. human as the stimulus.
By the way, dragger201, deaths from natural childbirth are not high in industrialized countries like the U.S. . . . it's not fair to compare to Afghanistan, where the mortality rate is probably off the charts in all categories!
Yeah, I'm a guy..........and I'm selfish. Between my wife and 3 daughters, over 6 children have been born.............and somehow I just don't relish the idea that any of them should have died because of "natural" childbirth.............
Intimate enough for an orgasmic birth? Maybe, if they include jungle themes, bear skin rugs, and someone else actually having the baby/