Product Details

• Actors: 11 Mothers, 12 International Experts
• Directors: Debra Pascali-Bonaro
• Format: Color, Full Screen, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English, French, German, Portuguese
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Seedsman Group
• DVD Release Date: January 1, 2009
• Run Time: 85 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (80 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001NY6YPW
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #55,560 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Review

A phenomenal film with a scientifically validated message that is the perfect antidote to 21st century birthfright. Astonishing, thrilling, transformative. --Sarah J Buckley, MD, GP/family physician; author of Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering

Orgasmic and childbirth. You wouldn't think the two could go together in a sentence, but this film reminds that when women give birth in a supportive environment, pleasure and ecstasy are possible. Hopefully it will encourage more women to seek out such a birth environment. --Jennifer Block, author of Pushed: The Painful Truth About Childbirth and Modern Maternity Care

If you were told that you could have one of the most physically, emotionally, spiritually transcendent moments of your life, and here's the map to get there would you really say no? --Midwife Elizabeth Davis

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

90 of 104 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars MISLEADING TITLE August 4, 2009

By Maxine Brown

Format:DVD

As an ex-doula who has attended birth as a sole birth attendant, this is not a film I would recommend. The authors of the film took a term and concept well known in radical midwifery circles-- "orgasmic birth: the nine month orgasm"-- and applied it to a film that is about three-percent on the subject of orgasmic birth: A two minute clip of renowned midwife, Ina May Gaskin, giving a statistic from a survey she had taken amongst women who had birthed with midwives. The statistic of women who had experienced orgasm during labor and birth was much higher than she had anticipated-- in the twenty-plus percent range.

There was talk about how birth is sensual, and orgasm is possible during birth. However, the examples of birthing in the film were mostly not examples of an orgasmic birthing experience. There was one orgasmic birth documented, and quite frankly it appeared to me to have possibly been an acting job on the part of the woman. What this film does contain is documentation of a mix of what I would describe as normal, healthy home births with several women. Births which ranged from easy, quick labors to relatively long labors. And two hospital births, one of which was downright traumatizing to watch. Scare tactics on pregnant women are not the way to improve birth. Having women who have had traumatic births tell their stories, without the actual visuals of a traumatic birth, is, in my opinion, far more effective in educating women about what they will be in for in a planned, non-emergency hospital birth.

It concerns me that this film offers the idea of "birth methods" and an orgasmic goal for birth, rather than emphasizing the physiology of natural birth and what is required to make birth safest overall. One midwife in the film, as well as a man from the World Health Organization, do offer comments on the physiology of natural birth and what is required for it to be safest: quiet, low-lights, few to no interruptions, uninhibited movement, as few people as possible, drinking and eating by mother on her own. The film misses emphasizing this, though. It left me feeling it was shallow in its attempt to educate, and confused me as to what it was really trying to achieve. Capitalize on sales with a radical title, or encourage women by documenting how safe home birth truly is?

The film's most redeeming moments are contained in the few-minutes long story of a childhood sexual abuse survivor/adult rape survivor who birthed with a midwife at home. Because she was able to birth uninterrupted at home, her birth became a most empowering moment for her. In this portion of the film, they have a short clip of DONA founder and natural childbirth advocate/researcher Penny Simkin, talking about the special concerns for female sexual abuse survivors at the time of birthing their children. She suggests the hospital environment and their policies to interrupt natural birth to "check" the baby and mother were particularly detrimental to the abuse survivor. Another redeeming moment was a clip of one of the other home birth mothers saying how her birth with her second child at home made her feel very proud.

This film does not, in my opinion, live up to its title. Nor does it, in my opinion, significantly help increase any woman's odds of having a better birth by watching it. There are much better documentaries on home birth available, even the very mainstream "The Business of Being Born" documents births that I feel would be more encouraging to any mother-to-be. The Midwifery Today website, as well as DONA International website, has many of those other documentaries available. Your local public library may have some of them, and certainly a local midwife will have them available for her clients to watch.

Bottom line, if you want to increase the odds of having a pleasurable and safe birth, my highest recommendation to anyone would be to read any and all books by Michel Odent: "The Farmer And The Obstetrician" is my favorite. And Frederick Leboyer's classic "Birth Without Violence." From a woman who has worked with birthing mothers, I can attest to this as a fact: birth can be elegant. It can be perfectly safe for the greatest majority of women, especially at home or in a natural birthing center, without unnecessary interventions by either an obstetrician or midwife.

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Phenomenal, Awe-Inspiring, Informative, Transforming! December 19, 2008

By Halley Watson

Format:DVD

It's not very often that a book or movie comes out that has the potential to directly change people's lives, but "Orgasmic Birth" is such a movie. Debra Pascali-Bonaro's film is monumental in it's message for women everywhere: birth can be empowering, transformative, and even pleasurable! The film chronicles the pregnancies, labors, and births of about 10 families, and does an awesome job of depicting the diversity of an empowering experience: homebirths, birth center births, hospital births, water births, and families of different races, religions, and customs. Additionally the film includes the story of a mother who was sexually abused as a child and a young adult, and she shares that "My birth became the most powerful thing that's happened to my body...and I was transformed." The women's stories also depict that birth can be spiritually orgasmic, emotionally orgasmic, or even physically orgasmic -- but the point being that regardless of the orgasmic element itself, it can be orgasmic period! What a crucial message for the young women of our society! We've been raised to believe that childbirth is the most painful thing a woman will ever endure -- how much healthier and how much more hopeful is it to instead believe that birth is something to be treasured and ENJOYED?!

I recently hosted a screening of "Orgasmic Birth" at my school, the University of Missouri. It was WILDLY successful, with over 100 people in attendance -- everyone from the local midwives, to professors to feminists, to mothers, to college women, to freshmen boys! Following the film, I hosted a panel of mothers and professional midwives to answer audience questions -- the questions poured in for 45 minutes! I've been hearing rumoring about a new campus organization: Med Students for Home Birth! One woman stood up and announced to the auditorium that this movie had changed her life forever -- "I know what I want now -- I want to have my babies at home with a midwife!" Another woman wrote a paper about the film, and still another created a project about the film for her Psychology of Women class. I just heard that someone else bought the film online after seeing it and is giving it out as Christmas presents!

Do yourself a huge favor -- SEE THIS MOVIE. Especially if you are a woman of childbearing age! KNOW your options before you get pregnant! Find out what's right for YOU! I'm sure many people reading this review have seen "The Business of Being Born," which is also incredible. I would distinguish the two by simply saying this: BOBB shows birth they way it is. Orgasmic Birth shows it the way it COULD BE. My cousin put it this way: "BOBB was eye-opening. Orgasmic Birth was heart-opening."

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars very good film, even for mainstream folks January 3, 2011

By K. James

Format:Amazon Instant Video|Amazon Verified Purchase

I consider myself to be a fairly mainstream type of gal. I am a natural birth advocate and cesarean mom. I was a bit leery of the movie because of the title. However, the OB website defines orgasmic as ""[i]ntense or unrestrained excitement or a similar point of intensity or emotional excitement." It's important to read this statement with the word "or" clearly in mind. You don't have to orgasm to have an orgasmic birth if you read the definition this way.

What I particularly like about this movie:
* beautiful homebirth stories
* interviews with experts (midwives, educators, OBs, medical researchers, epidemiologists)
* not all of the hospital births shown ended in cesarean
* a sexual abuse surviver is featured
* birth stories showed pleasure, pain, fear, excitement, extacy, the works!

What I didn't like as much about the movie:
* a mainstream watcher or anyone who is skeptical may be turned off immediately; IMO, the watcher could be "eased in" a bit better to the concept of the movie
* it bothers me that all of the homebirths were wonderful and the hospital births weren't; I know that the medical model is the dominant paradigm right now, and that the natural physiologic model needs to be given back its power, but I didn't like the "either/or" presentation

The Business of Being Born is probably my favorite birth movie, but this one is important to watch too. I think the idea of transformation is often missed, and this movie brings that into focus.