Some well-meaning but uptight folks over at change.org started a petition to ban the use of Flibanserin as a female sexual enhancement drug, stating that a low sex drive in women is not a disease. So, does the fact that there’s a male sexual enhancement drug on the market mean that low sex drive in men is a disease? Or is their thinking that since Viagara works on bloodflow, whereas Flibanserin stimulates serotonin production, it’s only a matter of time before this treatment modality puts women in the mental health ghetto? C’mon.
The drug did begin life as an anti-depressant, though apparently it didn’t work very well. I’d suggest this makes the drug emphatically not aimed at treating mental health issues. More to the point, why is this drug is being marketed exclusively to women? Men suffer from this type of sexual funk just like the ladies. Or should I have dumped that guy as soon as I found out he had a cat named Misery? But this is not some exclusively heterosexual issue.
Look, if you’re not into having sex as often as your partner, but you don’t want your partner having sex with someone else, why not? The side effects (contrary to what the petition states) are low to nonexistent. What is the downside? Sometimes, yes, we have to act our way into different thinking. It’s called behavior modification. Understanding why you don’t want to have sex–I’m going out on a limb here–not all that useful. Nobody cares! I guess if you don’t want to try something even as passive as popping a pill to put a little pizazz into your sex life, well, maybe you oughta cut that fish loose.
Having said all this I feel I must confess, part of me wishes there was a reverse pill. I’m at that age where I have the libido of a teenage boy and–despite advantages I may have accrued–all the frustration to go along with it. Erg. Saltpeter, anyone? That work?
