The Business of Being Born

Doing some reading recently, I was a little shocked to find that up to 45% of Australian women report that either all, or some aspects of their birth experience were traumatic when evaluated against recognised criteria for a "traumatic event". That is alot of women who are starting motherhood from an injured, distressed and difficult place.

Something is very wrong with the way birth is viewed today, by both the medical profession and by ourselves as women. "The Business of Being Born" is a new film which examines the questions we should all be asking to find our way back to a place where birth is viewed as more than just a risky endeavour with the primary goal of extracting a baby.

I attended a screening of TBOBB couple of days ago and it was truly amazing. I would encourage anyone who is pregnant, or even thinking about having a baby to see it. In a nutshell, it addresses some of the "big issues" surrounding birth today - how it is that we've arrived at a situation where trained surgeons are handling normal births and what that means for women who are low risk or who want a normal birth, why maternity services are NOT driven primarily by the needs of mother of baby, and what mothers, babies and society as a whole are losing because of this (which as it turns out is quite a lot). It also touches on questions about why women are so afraid of birth and the role cultural influences play in perpetuating that fear.

Don't let the fact that it was made by Ricki Lake put you off, nor the fact that it's focus is on the US hospital system - Australia actually has a slightly higher rate of caesarean than the US so it is just as relevant to us. It is well researched, factual and in parts beautifully filmed. The homebirth scenes had me in tears - both for the beauty of seeing these women give birth on their own terms, and also because sadly it's so rare for birth to be allowed to unfold undisturbed as we see with the mothers in this film. The contrast between some of the homebirth scenes and the hospital birth scenes was stark.

It's a fantastic film and I really hope the message gets out far and wide. You can view a preview here, and it will be out on DVD shortly.

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Published:
1:32 PM
by Tina