Female Impotence a Sexual Problem or Disease Article

Jun 10

Female Impotence a Sexual Problem or Disease

Female impotence, or more appropriately, female sexual dysfunction, is a term used to describe difficulties in having sexual desire, enjoying sexual intercourse, being adequately aroused or having an orgasm. Although such a condition exists, some researchers and doctors feel that it is being treated as a disease instead of a sexual problem and the numbers affected greatly exaggerated.

Most of the blame falls on the pharmaceutical industry which is suggested to have “created” the disease in order to have a new market for its products. Ever since Viagra was launched by Pfizer in 1998 to treat male impotence, the company has reported sales of $1.5B. Drug companies are said to be looking into building the same market with female sexual dysfunction. Some researchers are suggested to have linked up with pharmaceutical companies in order to achieve this purpose.

In an article in the British Medical Journal, researcher Ray Moynihan said: "A cohort of researchers with close ties to drug companies are working with colleagues in the pharmaceutical industry to develop and define a new category of human illness at meetings heavily sponsored by companies racing to develop new drugs."

Doctors caution against the perception that female sexual dysfunction is an illness that needs treatment. Although there is a medical side to such a problem, psychological and socio-economic factors and relationships with partners also play a significant role in the development of the condition. In fact, sexual dysfunction can be attributed to normal changes in women's sexual feelings which may happen after childbirth or being too familiar with a partner you've been with for many years.

Dr. John Bancroft, director of the Kinsey Institute of Indiana University also expressed concern that the portrayal of sexual difficulties as a dysfunction is likely to encourage doctors to immediately prescribe drugs and not to pay attention to the other aspects of a woman's life - psychological or physical - which may have led to the problem.

Furthermore, the misconception may lead women to think that they have a malfunction when in fact, they don't. Dr. John Dean, secretary of the British Society for Sexual and Impotence Research recognizes that drugs can be used to treat sexual disorders but cautions against categorizing all sexual difficulties as illnesses.

Pfizer, on the other hand, denies “creating” such disorders, adding that Viagra and other anti-impotence products from rival companies such as Elli Lily/ICOS and Bayer/GlaxoSmithKline have not been approved for use in women. A spokeswoman from Pfizer lamented that the article in the British Medical Journal suggesting that they have been conceiving illnesses “is a tremendous disservice to the women who tell us they are suffering.”