The Final Word on Female Viagra
I’ve spent a lot of time on this website discussing female sexual challenges – low libido, difficulty achieving orgasm, insufficient lubrication, etc. The one topic I've yet to broach is a female equivalent to the male drug Viagra. Women’s sexual satisfaction is no longer a taboo subject in our society (as this website should demonstrate), so we're not afraid to march right up to Dr. So-and-So and say "What's up with this? Why don't I want to have sex as much as a dude?"
The answer to this question has been in the works for quite a while. Leading the investigation is Pfizer, the company responsible for bringing us Viagra in the first place. Experiments are currently being done at the animal level (with rabbits, no joke) to determine the drug's access into human trials.
Viagra works the same for both men and women in that it increases blood flow to the genital area. The only problem with this is that the vast majority of sexual dysfunction in women is not caused by circulation but by psychological factors. So while female Viagra may accelerate the process once it's started, it will not necessarily lead to an increased sexual desire as a whole.
In the words of Sheryl Kingsberg, chief of the division of behavioral medicine at University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland, “In contrast to men in whom erections have played a huge role in sexual health, for women arousal is not the key problem, desire is.” However, approximately 5 percent of women do suffer from circulation-related sexual disorders, so the drug would have potential to increase satisfaction in that demographic.
Whenever I read about the latest breakthrough in female Viagra, I can’t help but think we're missing the point. Even the scientists who are working on these drugs state emphatically in each and every interview that biology is not the problem – libido is. So instead of taking that a step further and postulating on the reasons why women don’t want to bone, we instead continue to fixate on pharmacological solutions. Where's the logic in that?
It makes me wonder who is perpetuating these studies.
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Are you saying that it is not a physiological problem but something else? I think that's why the drug companies have not been successful - why measure circulatory issues if the problem is emotional and where does the connection between the circulatory system and the "desire" connect? Overall, it sounds like a wellness subject or a well being subject and that is if you're overall health and well being is in check, the answers come more from exploring new ways of intimacy, relaxing, and stress reduction. We did a great show on the relationship between nutrition, cardiosexual heath and "great sex" in a recent blogtalkradio show on Real Women on Health! Pls join us sometime. We also are launching a terrestrial radio s how this Wed April 21st at 8 pm EST...www.wstcwnlk.com
April 20, 2010 - 9:43amKelley
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flibanserin is not a "female viagra."
June 29, 2010 - 3:03amviagra works on arousal. flibanserin addresses desire. they're completely different mechanisms.
--m.