The advent of Viagra resulted in life-altering changes for many men who no longer had to rely on penis pumps, surgery, and unreliable drugs to get an erection.
Many people hope this type of drug to ease female sexual dysfunction (FSD) can have similar results for women, and the race to create and market a drug for women has already begun.
But there are serious doubts about how well a drug to treat FSD might actually work, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has already refused to allow drug companies to market several drugs due to concerns about their safety and efficacy.
FSD can be extremely complex and in many cases may not be the result of a medical condition at all.
What Is FSD?
Male sexuality is often defined solely according to the ability to get and maintain an erection, but doctors have had much more difficulty defining FSD.
Women qualify for a diagnosis of FSD when they exhibit one of a huge variety of symptoms, including pain during intercourse, low libido, inability to orgasm, and insufficient lubrication.
While hormonal changes and some health conditions can cause these symptoms, the symptoms of FSD can also be caused by psychological problems, exhaustion, and misunderstandings about how female sexuality works.
These causes cannot easily be treated with medication, and therefore a female Viagra equivalent may not be the miracle drug doctors hope for.
The Elusive Female Orgasm
For centuries, experts have debated the existence, meaning, and worth of the female orgasm. But we now know that the clitoris is key to orgasm and that about 80 percent of women can’t orgasm without clitoral stimulation.
This means that, for most women, intercourse alone will be insufficient to attain orgasm. This is not a sexual dysfunction. Rather, it is the normal state of female sexuality.
Inadequate sex education means that many women and men are still unaware of this and may label normal female sexuality as dysfunctional. In her documentary on FSD, filmmaker Liz Canner interviews a woman undergoing treatment for FSD.
At the end of the film, the woman explains that she can orgasm from clitoral stimulation but believes she is dysfunctional because she does not normally orgasm from intercourse.
When the woman learns that this state is actually the norm, she is immensely relieved and no longer believes she has FSD.
Victimization, Pain, and Libido
Statistics on female rape and sexual abuse offer a window into the mine field sex can be for many women. Depending upon which numbers you believe, anywhere from 10 percent to 40 percent of women have been sexually victimized.
Whether the numbers are at the low end or the high end, it is clear that sexual abuse of women is an ongoing social problem. Sexual abuse can lead to lagging libido, pain during intercourse, and difficulties with arousal.
In some cases, this is due to psychological trauma, and in others it may be due to a physical injury caused by the abuse. In either case, an FSD drug is unlikely to be effective.
Gender Roles and Lagging Desire
Women are raised in a society that is still uncomfortable with female sexuality. Women tend to learn less about sex than men and are less comfortable being sexually assertive.
The result is that women may be less equipped to be explicit about what they want sexually, may feel guilty about sex, and may not know much about the functioning of their own bodies.
All of these factors can result in lagging desire.
Women are also under increasing pressure at work and at home. Women still tend to do more housework and childrearing labor than men, even when they work full time.
This not only results in exhaustion. It can cause resentment of their partners, both of which can snuff out desire.
While FSD can have a hormonal cause and medical treatment should not be ruled out, women are entitled to full access to information about female sexuality and factors that can affect it.
Frequently, a change in a woman’s lifestyle and increased knowledge can also change her sex life.
Sources:
Canner, L. (Director). (2009). Orgasm, Inc. [Motion picture on DVD]. United States: Astrea Media.
Lloyd, E. A. (2006). The case of the female orgasm: Bias in the science of evolution. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Wincze, J. P., Carey, M. P. (2001). Sexual dysfunction: A guide for assessment and treatment. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
Edited by Jody Smith