Australian
Screen

Teacher’s notes

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This clip shows a lively and unselfconscious discussion among a group of five women about childbirth and partners’ reactions to changes in women’s bodies during and after childbirth. Led by the presenter, the women first describe their reaction to the experience of childbirth and the closer bond they feel with their own mothers as a result. Then they focus on the effect of childbirth on sexual partners, ranging across distaste for sex and partners’ insensitive requests for an extra suture in the vaginal area and finishing with some frank advice to new fathers.

Educational value points

• This clip presents a frank discussion that is rarely had on television – women talking about and revealing to a broader audience what they really feel about the pain of childbirth and the effect of childbirth on sexual relationships. The pain of contractions generally becomes severe and Amanda Keller’s experience of being ‘stunned’ is common. Zoe Carides’s advice to be patient is based on an understanding that sex is often less than satisfactory for a time after childbirth.

• The filming in this clip successfully draws the audience into the discussion with a succession of well-edited and framed shots. Multiple cameras are used, allowing the conversation to be documented from a number of angles. Close-ups, ‘reaction shots’ in which reactions to what is being said are captured, and wider angle shots that take in other participants are all made use of. Rapid changes in shot replicate to an extent the way those taking part shift their gaze.

• The recognition of a bond with other mothers forged in the pain of childbirth is acknowledged in the clip and described as an unforseen but positive consequence of childbirth. The women’s surprise at both the intensity of childbirth pain and the closer connection they subsequently feel with their own mothers as a result may in part be due to a misleading emphasis within the mass media on the individual and pleasurable aspects of motherhood.

• The suggestion, voiced by Keller in the clip, that some men lose sexual interest in their partner after seeing their sexual organs ‘disfigured’ during childbirth raises one of many possible outcomes of male participation in the birth experience. While some studies do reveal that sexual aversion can result, other studies show the benefits of men being present, not only for the woman giving birth but for the man providing support.

• Carides’s contemptuous comment about male partners requesting ‘an extra stitch for me’ refers to the situation during some births in which the perineum tears or is cut to allow the baby to pass through, and when it is being sutured the male partner asks for an extra stitch to tighten the entrance to the vagina to enhance his pleasure during sex. This stitch, dubbed the ‘husband stitch’, is considered a form of genital mutilation and often causes ongoing pain.

• The choice of setting for this discussion – reminiscent of a café but without noisy distractions – and the inclusion of women who as well as being knowledgeable about the topic are experienced entertainers, are both important elements in providing a relaxing context for the discussion, ensuring that it flows freely and helps to draw out the other participants.