Viagra for women?

I was researching this subject in 2006 (academically rather than scientifically) and now wonder how much has changed since then... Drug companies make $2.5 billion a year selling Viagra, Cialis and Levitra to help men enjoy sex. But what about women? Well The Journal of American Medical Association conducted a study into feminine pleasure, the National Health and Social Life Survey, and found that 43 percent of women, in comparison to 31 percent of men, have experienced sexual dysfunction. Since more women suffer from sexual dysfunction than men, developing a Drug for women could double those sales for the Drug companies. Yet the pharmaceutical industry has failed women miserably as there isn't a single sexual dysfunction Drug on the market that can help them. Pfizer Inc. abandoned an eight-year Viagra study involving 3,000 women, conceding that its famous blue pill only works for men. The latest research is being done by academics, rather than commercial Drug companies and suggests a neurological solution is needed. Because when it comes to achieving orgasms, women are more affected by mood, self-esteem and other issues of the psyche than men. Brain scans reveal that when women have orgasms, the pain centers in their brains shut down, and pleasure centers become active, that are the same as when a person ingests cocaine. This interesting research has been taking place at the Groningen University in The Netherlands, where people are less reserved about sex than in the United States. Though, sex research using brain scans is only just getting started, and scientists warn that any potential new Drugs, or even better diagnoses of sexual dysfunction, are years away. Meanwhile, Leonore Tiefer a well-known New York clinical psychologist, professor and author of "Sex Is Not a Natural Act and Other Essays: Psychology, Gender and Theory", who has specialized in sexuality and sex therapy for 30 years, is appalled by what she calls the "competitive commercial hunt for 'the female Viagra." Tiefer says that too much of the research about women's sexual problems is funded by Drug companies and narrowly conforms to their interests. She believes that we need to build up a comprehensive picture of women's sexuality with a heavy emphasis on the sociocultural, political and economic things that influence it. Tiefer defines four categories that need research: The first one is the social, cultural, political or economic category For example, is the woman having a problem because there is no sex education, so that she doesn't even have a vocabulary to talk about her problem? Or is it a cultural problem because the norms that she was raised with are different than where she lives now? Or maybe she and her partner are from different cultures. The second category: Is it a problem having to do with the relationship itself? Maybe there's a lot of conflict, or distrust, or abuse, or negativity in the relationship. Or maybe the sexual compatibility is really low, so that what a woman likes or wants is a lot different than what her partner likes or wants. Or maybe her partner has a sexual problem that's having a terribly inhibiting effect on this woman. The third category, sexual problems due to psychological factors. There are quite a few women who are very afraid of becoming pregnant, or getting a Sexually transmitted diseases (STD) , or losing something valuable, like their reputation or their self-esteem, if they were to become pregnant. The fourth category acknowledges a purely medical, or physiological, basis for some women's sexual problems, which may be due to a disease process, something circulatory, or it could be an STD that's giving a woman pain, or it could be a side effect of medication or surgery. Leonore Tiefer points out that, "I don't think a purely medical approach can ever be valuable. I do think there are women whose sexual problems are medical in origin. But our medical category requires a ruling out of psychological, relational and sociocultural issues that are interfering before we conclude that this is a medical problem. I'd like doctors to have these ideas going through their mind, instead of first saying it must be hormonal or a blood flow problem or whatever." Carol Rinkleib Ellison, sex therapist and author of "Women's Sexualities", says that no pill will help someone who hates her partner. And no cream will substitute for real communication around intimacy issues. There's more to sex than the blood flow to the clitoris. "We're so sexualized in our culture," Ellison says. "Women are taught that if our genitals aren't all hot and bothered that we're not normal. For a lot of women this isn't about a medical dysfunction, but women are often too tired or too busy for sex." She found that many females ranked emotional closeness before and after sex and feeling loved as having greater significance to them than the number of orgasms achieved. Deborah Tolman, the Director of the Center for Research on Gender and Sexuality (CRGS) and Professor of Human Sexuality Studies at San Francisco State University, noticed that girls interested in sexuality while growing up get labeled as "boy crazy," "slut" or "easy." The virtuous virgin receives praise. Then those girls grow up to be women who are told they have a disorder for not being sexual enough. Her book on adolescent girls’ sexuality, "Dilemmas of Desire: Teenage Girls Talk about Sexuality", published by Harvard University Press in 2002, was awarded the 2003 Distinguished Book Award from the Association for Women in Psychology. As long ago as 1913, the Russian-American anarchist, writer and publisher Emma Goldman (1869-1940) wrote in her "Mother Earth" journal that the overwrought and oversexed middle class girl, hedged in her narrow confines with family and social traditions, guarded by a thousand eyes, afraid of her own shadow -- the yearning of her inmost being for the man or the child, must turn to cats, dogs, canary birds, or the Bible Class. Such is the cruel dictum of morality, which is daily shutting out love, light, and joy from the lives of innumerable victims. She went so far as to say that morality condemns woman to the position of a celibate, a prostitute, or a reckless, incessant breeder of hapless children. Emma Goldman was jailed and eventually deported to Russia because of her many unacceptable views. I guess some progress has been made since then, though some sectors of society still seem to be in the dark ages. It least they're now researching sex issues, even if they have not yet found the magical panacea in the form of a healthy sex pill for women. Not to be confused with date rape Drugs, such as GHB (gamma hydroxybutyric acid), Rohypnol (flunitrazepam) or Ketamine (ketamine hydrochloride), which are not an aphrodisiac for arousing or intensifying sexual desire, but rather a Drug to facilitate sexual assault. Now that's a whole new issue. Meanwhile, U.S. scientists, looking for a way to help soldiers perform in Afghanistan's mountains, have found a miracle pill that safely helps the heart and lungs work at high altitudes - Viagra. Does that mean that men can still stand at attention whilst marching off to war in the hunt for Osama bin Laden? He'll definitely think his luck has changed if a squad of US soldiers with erections corner him and catch him alive... either that or he'll get a big bang out of it.