Why I made the documentary

Welcome to our Orgasmic Birth Movie Blog, As Director and Producer of Orgasmic Birth I am often asked why I made this movie. As a childbirth educator, doula, doula trainer, birth activist and mother I have been involved in childbearing issues both in the United States and Internationally for over 25 years. I have seen how our overuse of technology feeds the belief that birth is an emergency waiting to happen. Women are being told that birth is something to get through with a reliance on drugs and surgery. Many women are not receiving the information they need to make informed decisions. Why are we not providing every woman with the data that shows that many of our current practices and interventions while life saving for a mother and baby with complication, incur more harm than good for a healthy low-risk woman? Women are not being provided with full informed decision making ability including options that we know are safe, satisfying and lead to an easier labor and birth like moving in labor, choosing her own position to give birth, and others as cited in the Lamaze Six Care Practices for Normal Birth www.lamaze.org

I woke up one night with a dream of making a film that would show the truth about childbirth. Five years later my dream has become a reality. Yes, labor can be painful, pushes us to face our fears and in doing so we uncover an inner strength, that when a woman can surrender to the experience, she has the opportunity to transform herself and her labor and birth to include pleasure, power and pride in a day she will never forget. Orgasmic Birth unveils an intimate look at childbirth that has been hidden by our culture of fear.

Birth effects us all. We were all born and how this process unfolds for us as women, men, babies and families has a profound effect on how we feel about the experience and ourselves for months and years to come.

Orgasmic Birth provides expert commentary along with the personal stories of women and men who share their most intimate moments. Join us as we create a discussion of all that is possible in birth around the world.

Visit our web site to see all the countries that are sharing and discussing Orgasmic Birth www.orgasmicbirth.com

Please join me here on our blog. Share your feedback after viewing Orgasmic Birth. Let's discuss the challenges we face as we work together to transform our maternity care system to one that honors a woman's right to informed decision making, to choose where and with whom and how she will birth her baby. We have the research, it is now time to let our voices be heard to create action.

Warmly,
Debra

Saturday, August 30, 2008

What other people are saying...

Orgasmic Birth is different than other birth films you've seen -- it focuses on the sheer physical joys of birth. While we all hear more than enough about the pain of birth, and pain is a real part of birth, we too often forget the joy, the sexual and sensual pleasures to be had in birth. This is a film about women, about women's bodies; powerful, ecstatic, glorious, orgasmic bodies! Watch and celebrate! Barbara Katz Rothman, Professor of Sociology, City University of New York, Author, with Wendy Simonds, of LABORING ON.

What a wonderful, empowering, hopeful film! My hope is that women, men, nurses, doctors, and pretty much everybody take the time to see this film. This could be life changing. Thank you so much! Jennifer Steele, Doula, Portland OR

I loved the film. I bought a copy at the screening. It's the best feature-length film about birth I have ever seen - and I have seen them all. Carol Gray, Midwife, Portland OR

I absolutely loved it! I just wish people who are not comfortable with their sexuality…. could be reached to see this. I will push on to get this to ALL who will receive it. It will change their lives. I liked it better than the "other" film, hands down! Tiffani Hoffman , Doula/Childbirth Educator, Seattle WA

I had the great honor of attending the initial screening with families featured in the film. What an incredible experience and what a most moving and provocative film. It should be mandatory viewing for all families and practitioners involved in the birth process. Dr. Larry Rosen, Pediatrician, Oradell, NJ

Orgasmic Birth is a phenomenal film, with a scientifically-validated message: that birth is an intimate and innately ecstatic event, as evidenced by the laboring woman’s release of “ecstatic hormones”; that we must respect her need to feel private, safe and unobserved during labor and birth to maximize her hormonal flow; and that an optimal hormonal flow in labor will maximize ease, pleasure and safety for mother and baby. It is the perfect antidote to 21st century birth fright. Astonishing, thrilling, and transformative.
Dr .Sarah J Buckley,GP/ family physician, Queensland, Australia
Author of Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering: The wisdom and science of gentle choices in pregnancy, birth and parenting www.sarahjbuckley.com

“Orgasmic Birth” is the perfect blend of evidence-based information and documentary film making. This blend helps the viewer to understand more thoroughly the normalcy of birth and why 90% of the time, birth is an uncomplicated event. As a nurse with over 30 years of experience, I can say that every birth consumer and professional should see this documentary film and will come away with renewed faith and trust in the process!
Connie Livingston RN, BS, LCCE, CD(DONA)
President, Perinatal Education Associates, Inc. www.birthsource.com

A marvelous experience, where love is the most profound feeling perceived. Charlene, Nurse; Santa Catarina, Brazil

"Orgasmic Birth" shows what is possible when healthy women feel loved, confident, secure, uninhibited, and cared for during pregnancy and birth. The moving beautiful images leave no room for fear or loneliness, and show birth as the deeply sexual experience that it can be. Thank you, Debra Pascali-Bonaro and your team, for your vision and courage in portraying the ecstatic, sexual, orgasmic potential that exists in birth!

Penny Simkin, Doula, childbirth educator, and birth counselor; Seattle WA

A positive, joyous view of birth that will inspire women with the possibilities it demonstrates for truly empowering birth experiences! Robbie Davis-Floyd

This was not the first time I have seen the film. I hosted an event in Cleveland, Ohio in May at which it was shown, but each time I've seen it I have appreciated it even more. The subtler messages and the underlying expressions of love, respect, trust and total serenity seem even more tangible with each viewing. This film offers a very important message...one that I hope will explode the myths being propagated about birth and the ever prevalent culture of fear. Sunday Tortelli, Doula, Director of Publications – DONA International


Thank you for making this! I don't think I've been so excited about a film in a long time. I work as a Doula, a medical assistant, and counselor at an OB/GYN office and plan to show this to as many women and families as I can. As I begin graduate work in medical anthropology, I see this film as an inspiring part of the larger discussion of how we relate to our medical institutions, our culture, and ultimately ourselves.
Daniella Santoro, Doula, Brooklyn NY

This moving film documents exactly why I started to attend home births and those experiences soon changed my practice in the hospital. Whatever the setting, the woman must be honored; we must trust Nature. In more than 250 home births I never had to transfer a mother to the hospital. Leo Sorger, MD, FACOG

It is a miracle, a wonderful way to bring your child into this world! I am a midwife in Greece and unfortunately, we don't have this opportunity of birthing our children in this way, here. We can only view such births on DVDs or on the internet.
Helen Serpetini, Midwife; Attika, Greece

Finally, the truth about birth - some ecstasy, some agony, but beyond doubt a celebration!
Women must know that birth is indeed the ultimate expression of their female power, in all its possibilities. Birds fly, fish swim, women do birth. Elizabeth Noble, PT, Author, Founder of Women’s Health Section of the American Physical Therapy Association

In my mind, Orgasmic Birth means letting go, surrendering, being outside your body etc. If women are able to do those things, which are also done during orgasm, then their birth will be something fantastic and intense. I LOVE THE TITLE and all the hidden meanings and layers of it. And the film is FANTASTIC!!!!

The film was extraordinarily thought-provoking and compassionate. I really liked how it took you through the stories of different families as they experience birth in their own unique ways. I hope that everyone - especially expectant moms and dads - will see this so that they know their options regarding birth. Alisha McFarland, Smooth Transitions, Colorado

I thought the movie was excellent. It was very inspiring for me as I am planning a home birth in the next month… very empowering for women. I truly desire that women know all their options when planning the births of their children, and this is one way to get out the possibility of a new perspective to those who may have not considered it before.
Karen Fritzemeier, Belmont MI
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