Why do some women have an orgasm when giving birth?

Obstetric enjoyment is a very isolated phenomenon and above all still very taboo in our society. Very few studies have been carried out on the subject. It is therefore difficult to know precisely how, in some women, the expulsion phase may coincide with a peak of pleasure, when it is generally associated with discomfort and pain.

One possible explanation could be purely anatomical. The roots of the clitoris enclosing the entrance to the vagina, we could deduce that the clitoral area is stimulated during the passage of the baby. For some specialists, neuroendocrine hypotheses could also explain obstetric enjoyment, but the influence of hormones could not be demonstrated.

Specialists also advance cultural and psychological hypotheses. According to them, the possibility of experiencing pleasure, and even even to consider this possibility, is limited by the medicalization of pregnancy and childbirth as well as by centuries of “you will give birth in pain”. .

How many women experience orgasm on D-Day?

Does orgasm decrease pain?

Because it increases the production of oxytocin, a hormone known to make contractions more efficient, and the production of endorphins, anti-stress and pain-relieving hormones, one can actually imagine that orgasm could facilitate the childbirth and make it less painful. But as the birth professionals interviewed on the subject point out, it is not a question of seeking this orgasm at all costs. There is already enough pressure on the shoulders of expectant mothers.

Remember that this phenomenon of obstetric enjoyment remains very isolated and that there are many other ways to experience childbirth in the best possible conditions. The epidural, but also the adoption of physiological positions during labor and expulsion, massages, acupuncture, sophrology, hypnosis …

The impact of childbirth preparation and the environment

Here again, it is difficult to identify the parameters favorable to the occurrence of an orgasm during childbirth. Be that as it may, the study conducted by Thierry Postel seems to show that this phenomenon occurs more easily in the absence of an epidural, which would go in the direction of an anatomical explanation for obstetric enjoyment: under the effect epidural anesthesia, the nerve endings of the clitoris are also less sensitive.

In the United States, birth professionals have taken advantage of this phenomenon to promote their conception of childbirth and, incidentally, to sell books and videos of their preparation methods supposed to facilitate orgasmic births. . Debra Pascali-Bonaro even made it into a movie called “Orgasmic Birth – The Best Kept Secret”.