Educational Media Reviews Online

Eggsploitation is a documentary that focuses on the exploitation of female egg donors. When a female is of a certain age, race or educational background, she could be the target of advertisements to donate her unfertilized eggs. This documentary includes the stories of six egg donors and the complications they all suffer during or post-donation. Complications range from internal bleeding, to losing their remaining ovaries, to stroke and even death.

This is a documentary with an agenda – something to possibly be expected with a title such as Eggsploitation and a definite extreme angle. Not once is there any testimony from the other side, such as from parents who successfully conceived from a donor’s egg, or from donors who didn’t have any complications. There is also no evidence of whether donated eggs are used for women with infertility or for research purposes – the topic of donated eggs being used for stem cell research is brought up during the middle of the documentary with no previous indicators that this was to be introduced as a topic.

This documentary is aimed at females who might consider donating their eggs—they should be educated with enough information to work upon. The film does state that there is not enough research on females who do donate their eggs—an ethical question for appropriate medical professionals to consider answering.

Within the DVD, there are two options from the menu, one for the movie and the other for special features. Eggsploitation is recommended with reservations for academic and public libraries with collections for teenage through college audiences.