Box office

In Switzerland, the film had the biggest box office of all Swiss documentaries of the year 2018. In Germany, #Female Pleasure opened as the most successful film of the weekend,^[10] and it was in the Top 4 of 2018.^[11] According to the German Television, the film was one of the most relevant documentaries of the year 2018.^[12]

Critical response

At the date of the theatrical release in the U.S., the Alliance of Women Film Journalists labeled the documentary as the movie of the week, because it "shows us why that fight is so important — and how it connects women across distances both geographical and cultural".^[13] Even if the five women are disparate in terms of their stories and experiences, "Miller underlines the fact that women's struggle to embrace and own their sexuality in a world dominated by misogyny is universal", wrote Betsy Bozdeck.

As #Female Pleasure focuses on patriarchal constraints on women's sexuality,^[14] film critics located the film as a contribution to the #MeToo debate. John DeFore from The Hollywood Reporter concluded that this documentary "reminds us that cultures around the world and throughout time have used sexual mores to assert control over women".^[15] Martin Kudlac wrote on Screen Anarchy: "At the beginning of 21st century, gender and cultural stereotypes undergo major re-assessment, while women and their voices in the society are being empowered and heart loud and clear. (...) Miller adds her contribution to the hottest debate through the eyes of five brave women willing to act and testify." He continued that Miller did not attack religions, though the film made "an informed point on inherent sexism and misogyny frequently exerted on behalf or under the pretense of a higher being while using women body as a key".^[16]

Annette Scharnberg from Swiss Radio and Television underlined the importance of the film for mutual understanding between the sexes: "One can only hope that those individuals who are upset over the supposed whining about equality, MeToo, and gender issues will be better able to comprehend, thanks to films like #Female Pleasure, why there is no other alternative than to fight back against this culture of oppression."^[17] She said that Miller demonstrated how discrimination, misogyny, and sexualized violence were connected around the world to patriarchal structures, legitimized by sacred texts, whether those of Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, or Hindus. Similar Muriel Del Don on Cineuropa.org: "What this documentary seems to want to tell us is that it's never too late to assert our right to exist. Women can and must assert their sexuality, not for the sake of duty, but in the name of pleasure, because this sexuality fast becomes a weapon with which to fight a patriarchy-prison of grotesque proportions."^[18]

Writing for the Los Angeles Times, Maria Garcia estimated the objectivity and universality of the topic: Each of the protagonists "provides an insider view of the unique brand of misogyny that informs their respective cultures. All are survivors of rape or other forms of sexual assault. The issues they confront are not new; yet, the stories of their radicalization are engaging, and Miller's deft editing and objective approach result in a surprisingly intimate and life-affirming film."^[19]

Malin Jörnvi from FF2 Media identifies two further important aspects of the film. First, the role of the religion: "the documentary take[s] an explicit stance when it comes to religion: All the narratives involve biting critique against the treatment of women and women bodies within organized human faith."^[20] And second, a "powerful tool for learning. Because, not only does the documentary present the responsibility we have as global citizens to educate ourselves in the contemporary state of the world, it also highlights the responsibility we have to be critical to the inevitably one-dimensional perspective enforced by the use of camera."^[21]

Accolades

The film received several awards and nominations: After the Zonta Prize at the Critics Week at the Locarno Festival 2018,^[22] the film won the Special Prize of the Interreligious Jury at the International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film.^[23] For the Swiss Film Award 2019, #Female Pleasure was nominated in the three categories Best Documentary Film, Best Film Score, Best Film Editing;^[24] in Austria, it won a Romy Award in the category Best Cinema Documentary.^[25] In 2019, the film received the Amnesty International Award at the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival,^[26] and the Audience Award at Millennium Docs Against Gravity in Warsaw.^[27]