I guess we can look forward to a new pharmacological trade name appearing in our spam folders in the near future. A failed antidepressant, flibanserin will soon enter clinical trials in the UK to determine whether it’s safe to be marketed as the Female Viagra, accompanied by pointed questions from sexual health experts as to whether there’s really any genuine need for it:
Doctors involved in the study said the drug may prove to be an effective treatment for low libido, a problem they estimate affects between 9% and 26% of women, depending on their age and whether they have been through the menopause.
The drug has proved controversial among sex researchers. Some argue pharmaceutical companies are exaggerating the number of women affected by low libido to expand their market, and are pushing a pill that will not deal with psychological issues that might put someone off sex, such as poor body image or stress.
With the hopefully obvious caveat that I’m not a woman, I’m siding with the skeptics on this one. Viagra solves a, er, mechanical problem that prevents men from having sex, whereas flibanserin appears to be psychological in effect from the details described – a ‘randiness’ pill, to put it crudely.
Personally, I’m all for personal pharmacological freedom – if there’s a pill out there that does something positive for you, then who are you harming other than yourself? But I’m not sure that that a lack of libido in women is a pathological problem in the same way as erectile dysfunction, and this has all the hallmarks of Big Pharma rolling out another “lifestyle” drug designed to cure something that isn’t really an illness. [image by Felixe]
I remain surprised that libido suppressants aren’t so readily available as their opposites, though. If there’s a market for chemicals to switch on a certain body response, surely there’s going to be one for chemicals to switch them off? One might argue in response that libido suppressants could be easily misused, given to people who neither wanted or needed to take them… to which I’d respond that the same surely applies to flibanserin and Viagra.
The furor of course stemming from American reluctance to legalize substances for non-pathological-treatment reasons.
While I certainly agree that lifestyle drugs should be far more rarely prescribed, I have to disagree with other conclusions in this article. My main issue with this is the common perception that only men are prohibited from sex if they can’t get the “mechanical” (as you put it) functions going. If a woman can’t get the juices flowing, she can still technically have sex, but it can be very painful due to the lack of a) lubrication and b) the expansion that usually occurs in anticipation of penetration. Additionally, low libido is a common effect of menopause, just as men can lose their (ahem) abilities with age.
Also, although I can’t quote sources, it is likely that the psychological problems affect the situation at least part of the time for men as well, making the above information more relevant: if women are to be encouraged to get over the psychological obstacles, rather than seeking medication, the same should be done for men. Conversely, if men can have a drug that lets them avoid dealing with stress and body image issues, it’s unjust to stand against a female Viagra for those reasons. At least let both sides be equally misguided.
Also, although I can’t quote sources, it is likely that the psychological problems affect the situation at least part of the time for men as well, making the above information more relevant: if women are to be encouraged to get over the psychological obstacles, rather than seeking medication, the same should be done for men. Conversely, if men can have a drug that lets them avoid dealing with stress and body image issues, it’s unjust to stand against a female Viagra for those reasons. At least let both sides be equally misguided.
I think all of this misses the fundamental issue with Viagra. It does not improve libido. It helps a male with difficulty achieving or maintaining erections.
One can have a strong libido but not be able to perform.
Of course, this does exemplify the recent trend of “medicalizing” all human problems. “There’s a pill for that.”
Trying to increase a woman’s libido pharmacologically makes very little sense. ED is mostly a physiological not psychological problem. Libido is likely to be a psychological issue. Often resulting from serious trauma around sexuality.
Improving anyone’s ability to perform and enjoy sex is always a good thing (well, mostly a good thing).
Sorry, double post ;_;
A woman’s lack of libido can indeed have physiological causes. In my case, I had a strong libido my entire adult life until I had both of my ovaries removed (I had them proactively removed due to a high cancer risk, a BRCA2 gene mutation which was associated with a 40-60% chance of ovarian or breast cancer, inherited from my mother who died of ovarian cancer in her mid 40’s). I have no more stress, body image, relationship, or psychological problems than I did pre-surgery; however my libido disappeared in the days and weeks after my surgery and did not return in spite of my good health, excellent fitness, and happiness in all other aspects of my life. Compounded testosterone/estrogen hormone replacement therapy hasn’t served to restore my libido so I can personally say there is more to the ‘chemical soup’ produced by the ovaries and needed for libido than simply testosterone. For women, it’s not just a ‘blood flow’ issue (since my circulation didn’t change overnight after my surgery). Before my surgery, I thought that if I eventually had an issue with libido, I would simply take testosterone and estrogen supplements and that would solve it, but it wasn’t simple as that unfortunately. I’m very glad that pharm companies are trying to develop drugs which may help women in my situation. Some of you are jumping to ill-informed conclusions (and being somewhat insensitive and condescending) when you claim that women’s libido problems are mostly psychological. Sure there might be a psychological, body image, or relationship factor for some libido problems in women, but physiology is probably a larger factor for the majority of cases, especially for problems that begin after menopause.