There was an interesting piece in The Times of London over the weekend exploring the downside to the little blue pill. Many women don’t appreciate the demands that occur when their partners are suddenly motivated to have repeated sex. Pfizer’s widely promoted best seller is blamed for increases in sexually transmitted diseases and divorce, or ‘viagramony,’ as one lawyer calls it, although some Viagra users had nothing but praise. Here are a few of the comments….

“It’s like being 14 again,” one middle-aged recreational user tells The Times. “You get an erection and you are desperate to do something with it. You ejaculate and you soon want to do it again, then again. Apart from the side effect of blue-tinged vision, you also end up with extreme physical fatigue from too much sex. If the woman you are with is not up for it, things can get unpleasant. You can end up having a steaming row – and still have a hard-on.”

Susan Kellogg Spadt, co-founder of the Pelvic and Sexual Health Institute in Philadelphia, adds: “The worst problems occur when a man recognises he has a communication problem with his partner and covertly gets a supply of Viagra thinking that will help. All that happens is he gets an urgent erection that he must do something with, and the communication problem gets worse.”

Lori Boul, a UK psychologist specialising in sex therapy, says women are pressured into accepting Viagra-fuelled “acts of lust” rather than an emotional connection or sexual satisfaction for themselves. “There’s a lot of money in this idea that penetrative sex is the key, that if you get that right everything will be fine,” she says. “But from a woman’s point of view, it’s only part of it. Poor communication and poor technique among men will never be fixed by a pill. It never ceases to amaze me how limited and inhibited many middle-class, intelligent people are in their sexual practices.”