2010/06/17 New York
Distress
Placebo
A telling article in the Times about female sexual desire – can a pill restore female libido? But above all, how many satisfying sexual events should we have every month?
Duff Wilson writes: ‘Boehringer’s application for F.D.A. approval said that its two key 24-month studies, of 1,323 premenopausal women who said they suffered distress over lack of libido, had found small but statistically significant improvements. The women lived in the United States or Canada, were mostly married, well-educated and found to have the sexual desire disorder but were otherwise healthy.
In results reported last fall at a medical conference in Europe, the drug was found to increase self-reported “sexually satisfying events” to 4.5 a month on average. The reported events, which did not have to include orgasm, compared with 3.7 a month by women taking a placebo and 2.7 by those who did not take any pills.’
Aha! When you take a pill at least 4.5 times a month and satisfaction without an orgasm is an option.
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24 comments 
lapsus
Nice one! How man satisfying sexual events instead of how many satisfying sexual events. Freud is enjoying this!For the mind is the biggest erotic zone. (J. Treehorn)
man
man-satisfying events or many satisfying events?[edit]
Last sentence
That last sentence reads like it contains a mistake. Should 'and' be a comma?More interesting than the effect of the drug they developed, is the effect of the placebo on the number of "sexually satisfying events". It seems similar to the famous Hawthorne effect, where the fact that people received the attention of researchers improved their productivity, not the experimental intervention itself. Apparently, the fact that some reseacher cares, leads these women to improve the number of "sexually satisfying events". I don't think I ever saw a better demonstration of Foucault's ideas on sexuality and discipline. Or perhaps we are all exhibitionists.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawthorne_effect
Also, it seems telling that 2.7 "sexually satisfying events" per month is a medically accepted definition of fridigity.
I find that my 20-25year old girly friends are loaded with libido. It's frightening sometimes.
Dens
And what to think from a fifteen year old boy.I love the tension between leading a celibate life and the feelings of lust that occure regulary.
occur
Flesh
Perhaps their spirit is weak so their flesh is unwilling.Once I dreamt I was a travelling vibrator salesman. It was a terrible nightmare.
distress
I wonder whether the 'distress due to lack of libido' was their own or their husbands.Taking a pill to 'cure' lack of libido sounds to me a bit like taking a pill against a distaste of applepie.
Simon
I like your statement. Have you seen the VPRO-documentary the Viagra man? Very interesting. There were lots of arguments against Viagra.What is a satisfying sexual event? Sometimes the phantasy can be more real/fun than real experience. Maybe that's the biggest difference between male and female desire.
Sick
This sick thought just popped up in my head: if a rapist feeds such a pill to a woman before raping her, will the pill make it more bearable for the victim?Commodity
From the article:---
“Women’s sex lives are often a struggle, a disappointment, an archipelago of regret,” she said. “Is there a small group of women who could benefit from medical intervention — probably.”
But she said that if the drug were approved, she worried that “the much larger group of women without any medical reason for their sexual distress will inevitably be misinformed and misled into thinking that there is a pill that can get them the sex life they read about, the one they think everyone else is having.”
---
It is also apparent that in advanced capitalism, even sex is increasingly regarded as a commodity.
But will this pill make a lonely life less lonely? Do we really want menopausal bottle-nymphomaniacs?
And I thought menopausal women were always nymphomaniacs because of the increase (and decrease) of testosterone..
Yes the phantasm is more fun than the real experience, and the same thing can be said about the memory of a real experience. I think we still need a real experience from time to time, to exalt or sedate our awareness, by means of sex, drugs, rock & roll, danger or religion.
@Monique: haven't seen it, but sounds interesting. I'll try 'uitzendinggemist'.
@Mieke: men have and enjoy phantasies too, even when (or sometimes because) they are not carried out in real life.
@Mieke: men have and enjoy phantasies too, even when (or sometimes because) they are not carried out in real life.
Carlos
Sex has always been regarded as a commodity.Only in America: "...found to have the sexual desire disorder..."
Sex as a commodity.
Well, I read women as a commodity.
When will someone come up with artificial vagina's? Smaller, for more fun! Or coloured as a birthdaygift for her husband. Pills and perfect parts. Transport and fixing included.
Tell me, who of you has this awfull sexlife? I am completelyfine. And i am in the dangerzone: two young kids....
Well, I read women as a commodity.
When will someone come up with artificial vagina's? Smaller, for more fun! Or coloured as a birthdaygift for her husband. Pills and perfect parts. Transport and fixing included.
Tell me, who of you has this awfull sexlife? I am completelyfine. And i am in the dangerzone: two young kids....
PS
If you don't like applepie, do not try to eat it. Go for something completely different.Well, I know about these dolls. They are even sold with (according to a documentary) the looks of children... What I meant was stuff to put on the living ladies.
But of course this is already on the market as well.
But of course this is already on the market as well.
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