Orgasm Inc: Female Sexual Dysfunction Is…
12 CommentsBy Ed Silverman // May 24th, 2010 // 12:00 pm
Next month, an FDA advisory committee will meet to review a Boehringer Ingelheim pill to tackle FSD, or female sexual dysfunction (see this and this about the pill). However, a growing group of psychologists, academics and public health advocates contend that FSD isn’t an authentic medical condition, or at least not the sort of problem that should be treated with drugs. Bandied about but never proven is the statistic that 43 percent of women suffer from this affliction (background).
And so just in time for the regulatory show comes a new documentary called Orgasm Inc. (subtitled The Strange Science of Female Pleasure), which premieres in New York on Thursday and explores the issue by examining a host of views and products, including the Orgasmatron and an effort by Vivus Pharmaceutical to develop and sell a topical treatment. “A lot of this is about marketing,” filmmaker Liz Canner tells Newsweek. “They are trying to sell disorders.” You can read more here.
ohn
I agree that medicalizing low sex drive is not a good thing, but you cannot get a drug approved in the US without an “indication, so medicalization is as much about the regulatory mechanism as marketing.
Is this a legitimate product? I really don’t see how “lifestyle drugs” are fundamentally different from those of other non-essential products that bear some degree of risk. If its as safe as white water kayaking, bungee jumping, motorcycling, eating a high fat diet or other legal activites(no prescription is required for any of these), I see no reason that BI should not be allowed to sell this drug, or why any woman so inclined (I suspect the numbers will be quite small) should not be allowed to buy it.
patrons99
OMG! An Orgasmatron. What a blast from the past.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orgasmatron
With Pharma and BIO these days, reality imitates fiction, and is getting stranger by the day. A related device is the “orgasmic orb”. Today we’ve got a new pill, courtesy of BI. Society has much to be thankful for.
M. Black
I mean, come on now…
;-)
Ed, you left that door wide open.
M. Black
Put Woody Allen and Howard Stern in the same room, and “poof” - orgazmitron
JaT
“maybe if there is a map to the clitoris on the box”
lol
A spinal cord implant? Are they high?
M Helm, MD
These times remind me more of Huxley’s “Brave New World” than of Allen’s “Sleeper.”
JaT, they are not high, they are capitalists.
MsPiggy
Though I can’t help but find the obvious humor in this topic and video; this organized industrial creation and marketing of so-called disease is a serious issue/problem that is just adding more devastating health consequences and horrendous financial burdens to an already deeply corrupted and broken health care system that continues to fuel the run-a-muck out of control and under-regulated pharmaceutical/medical appliance industry.
patrons99
Very well stated, MsPiggy. “…an already deeply corrupted and broken health care system…”. I completely agree.
Stephany
see more Epic Fails
Stephany
The previous link was the FAIL blog’s (fail link)
This is the one I linked to:
http://failblog.org/2010/03/16/shop-fail/
and, for those wondering, I am NOT MS.PIGGY!
pharmavet
1) Flibanserin opposes the action of mianserin.
2) Mianserin has been shown to prolong the lifespan of nematodes.
3) Flibanserin would be expected to have the opposite effect.
4) Therefore Flibanserin may be good for getting rid of the earthworms in your garden, but not much else.
SillyGirl
Are 43% of us sexually dysfuctional or not? Depends on whom you ask — inept ex-lovers who didn’t find us responsive enough? Underneath it all is an assumption that all women below a certain age should want sex all the time, and always be able to achieve orgasm. Who made up that expectation, or even that women should want all that? Paging “The Stepford Wives”!
I believe the problem, if there is one, is best solved through natural hormonal supplements and diet. But these therapies are under attack by the very same FDA that is so eager to support more direct sexual control of women.
I propose an alternative: direct sexual control of men. Not just Viagra, but a whole range of therapies and drugs. While we’re at it, we could reduce testosterone when convenient, such as when we’re not in the mood or the guy is becoming violent or driving his car too fast. Let’s see how fast the whole idea gets shot down.