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The cultural impact and huge profitability of male-targeted impotence drugs has prompted a rapidly accelerating race to create similar drug treatments for women. Despite more than a decade of research and millions of dollars spent on development, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has yet to approve a single drug treatment for cis women dealing with so-called female sexual dysfunction (FSD). In response, the pharmaceutical industry has launched a campaign to persuade the FDA to approve such medications in the name of equality - a campaign that ignores the fact that most of the drugs under consideration simply don't work. ("Cis" refers to "individuals who have a match between the gender they were assigned at birth, their bodies, and their personal identity."1 To date, clinical trials for FSD drugs have only enrolled cis women who are in heterosexual relationships. The drug manufacturers' and FDA's limited concept of female sexuality is the subject of another article, however!)
This industry campaign, Even the Score (http://eventhescore.org), relies on the fact that drugs to treat FSD are less available than drugs for erectile dysfunction. Therefore, the campaign claims, the FDA is holding drugs for women's sexual problems to a higher standard than men's, and preventing women from making informed choices about their sexual health. (FSD is an umbrella term for a number of disorders, such as hypoactive sexual arousal disorder, female sexual arousal disorder, orgasm disorder, and sexual pain disorder.)
These tactics are working: Even the Score's backers include FSD manufacturers as well as prominent women's rights groups, reproductive justice groups, and many legislators, too.
No amount of slick marketing, however, can get around the fact that the FSD drugs Just don't work. There are many reasons why they may not effectively increase women's sexual enjoyment - chief among them is the heterogeneity of female sexuality and the fact that sexual problems are mostly shaped by interpersonal, psychological, and social factors. Nevertheless, pharmaceutical executives continue to hype the possibility of a "pink Viagra"... because the potential market is estimated to exceed $2 billion annually.2 As this push continues, it's vital to consider how much of the discussion around female sexuality is fact - and how much is...