In one of my previous posts, I mentioned that the Washington Post is doing a feature on issues affecting women globally. Amongst these issues was that of the danger childbirth imposes on women living in underdeveloped countries such as Sierra Leone. I ran across the stories of Saio Marah and Adama Sannoh, two women who find themselves giving birth in less than sanitary conditions without the use of necessary medical equipment. Sannoh, a 28-year-old wife and mother, ultimately dies during the delivery and subsequently loses her unborn child. A brief pictorial documentary was composed to convey the circumstances surrounding Sannoh's death and reactions by family members. Marah did not lose her life, but her child was not as lucky; after being in labor for three days, the stress was too much for her baby girl to handle. From the start, the chances of having both mother and child come out of the delivery virtually unscathed were not in their favor: as opposed to being seen by an OB-GYN, Marah had to settle for a doctor who had been trained as an opthalmologist. The doctor was accustomed to delivering babies as he is only one of two doctors servicing 300,000 people. The hospital could not afford medical equipment, so the burden of purchasing and retrieving the equipment necessary fell upon her family. Marah's husband earns a salary of $100 per year as a jewelry maker, and the $70 cost for the C-Section set him back severely. Why am I saying all of this?
Because just a few days ago, 20/20 did a documentary on Extraordinary Motherhood. The hour-long piece featured a birthing method that many women across the country are referring to as not only a "best-kept secret," but also a "neglected human right":
Orgasmic Birthing.
During the process of orgasmic birthing, a woman is capable of achieving orgasm during childbirth with the assistance of a doula, as opposed to the more satisfying feeling of being ripped in half (note the sarcasm). After watching the segment, I, of course, was skeptical. I was waiting on the footage that showed these women screaming Uncle once the child's head popped out. I couldn't really blame the women for wanting to sexualize something so... how do you say... not sexy, but then again I wondered why it was necessary to do so. Biblically, pain in childbirth is believed to be one of the consequences assigned to all of womankind due to Eve's decision to eat the forbidden apple. Henceforth, all women can now expect to experience some degree of discomfort while ushering a life into this world. Cool. But is it truly expedient to use your baby as an instrument of sexual pleasure?
Furthermore, the birthing disparities that exist between the women in Sierra Leone and the women featured in the 20/20 segment are blatantly inequitable. The 20/20 women all had the option of running to a nearby hospital if something were to go wrong. They could be assured that all of the appropriate equipment would be readily available and that they would be seen by someone who has been trained in the safe delivery of children. For many women across the world, this is a luxury as the nearest hospital may be hundreds of miles away. Birth pains indiscriminately wreak havoc on female bodies before, during, and after the actual delivery. Some of the damage is cosmetic, while others may incur extensive internal damage... this brings to mind the young women of Ethiopia and Niger who develop fistulas because their underdeveloped hips are too narrow to accomodate their child's girth. In these countries, the age of the woman at the time of birth compounded with a lack of medical assistance during the delivery often equates to a condition that is only reparable through a surgery that they cannot afford; they are thereby dismissed from their communities as outcasts due to their inability to control their defecation. It is quite apparent that the place in which you give birth dictates how animalistic and barbaric your childbirth experience will be, and also whether or not you will have access to adequate health care for the injuries that you may incur during the process.
Perhaps I'm wrong for feeling that those who engage in orgasmic birthing are selfish, and, well, weird, but I feel that there are far greater human rights that are being neglected beyond the ability to reach orgasm during labor. Don't get me wrong, if you can figure out a way to birth children without any pain, let me know before my time comes. I just feel that we should be more sympathetic to the fact that out of the 500,000 women who die in childbirth each year, 495,000 live in underdeveloped nations. If we expect to continue in our beliefs of liberty and justice for all, we should look beyond our borders to assist those who are limited in the entitlement of both principles. If you are interested in researching more about women's rights, feel free to peruse the plethora of topics listed on the Washington Post's website, or visit The International Center for Research on Women for information about what you can do to get involved.
PEACE
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