Well, it was a big week for the female libido, and not much of it,
frankly was good news. Of course, we women of a certain age,
which is a polite way of saying those of us in middle age,
could have predicted as much.
First came “Fifty Shades of Grey” sky-high box office sales.
Apparently the raunchy romance surpassed the box office debut
sales of “Passion of the Christ,” thus spawning Fortune Magazine’s
unfortunate headline: “Looks like Fifty Shades of Grey is more
popular than Jesus.” Nice.
Apparently a majority of moviegoers purchased their tickets online
because Fandango reported the largest purchase of domestic
tickets for any movie through its website in the company’s 15 years
of business. One explanation was that fans were too embarrassed
to face box office cashiers, which would make sense for a movie
deemed abusive one one hand, and praised for its “positive depiction
of an BDSM relationship, on the other.” (Who knew, right?)
Then came the study published in the Journal of the American
Medical Association (JAMA) about menopausal hot flashes and
night sweats lasting much longer than previously thought. In fact,
scientists say, women, on average, can now expect symptoms to
last for more than seven years, thank you very much. The prior
estimate was six months to two years. And just in case you don’t
think menopause affects a woman’s libido to any measurable degree,
the pharmaceutical company that makes “Osphena” is only happy to
enlighten you with their barrage of TV ads complete with the tag line:
“Sex after menopause: It shouldn’t have to hurt.” In their inestimable
wisdom, these ads are always timed to air at the dinner hour. Pity
the poor parent forced to explain why sex hurts to their little one.
At least we found something to laugh about with my kids when
they were little. (“Daddy, what’s a reptile dysfunction?”)
Next came the debate over what’s being billed as “women’s Viagra”:
the little pink pill that is designed to increase a woman’s sex drive.
Sprout Pharmaceuticals of Raleigh, North Carolina, the company
that makes flibanserin, has submitted the drug twice, but the FDA
has rejected it, saying the drug did not have “very robust effectiveness.”
There were also questions about side effects, which included nausea,
dizziness and sleepiness. Meanwhile, consider the side effects of
Viagra,
which include, but are not limited to, vision changes or sudden
vision loss;
sudden hearing loss; chest pain; nausea; sweating; general ill feeling;
irregular heartbeat; swelling in hands, ankles, or feet; shortness of
breath;
warmth or redness in the face, neck or chest; headache; upset stomach;
or diarrhea.
But Sprout studies say the pill increases a woman’s desire by 53
percent,
decreases their distress by 29 percent and doubles their number
of
satisfying sexual events.
Well, now.
Do you know how many drugs have been approved by the FDA to
treat male sexual dysfunction? Twenty five. How many for
woman?
Zero. Zip. Nada.
It is important to note that the treatment of female sexual dysfunction
is more complex than in males. While erectile dysfunction drugs like
Viagra work to increase blood flow, flibanserin corrects an imbalance
in the brain of certain neurotransmitters that control desire and inhibition.
Still, sheer numbers lay bare (sorry) the disparity. In 1999, a JAMA
survey
found that 43 percent of U.S. women had some type of sexual
dysfunction,
as opposed to 31 percent of men.
The treatment paradigm for women suffering from a waning sex
drive has
been sorely lacking. As Cindy Whitehead, the founder of Sprout,
said in
an NPR interview: “Let’s take a drug that works in men, and let’s
see if
it works in women.”
That would be testosterone cream. I know this because I got a
prescription for it and the woman at the compound pharmacy where
I picked it up madesuch embarrassing comments to me
(she went on and on about how she chased her boyfriend around
the couch) that I would rather buy a dozen tickets to “Fifty Shades
of Grey” in broad daylight than turn around and face all those
people in line behind me whose stares and stifled giggles
was painfully humiliating.
As the week came to a close, the “Fifty Shades” frenzy seemed
to dying
down, and women seemed resigned to however long their
menopausal
symptoms would last. But on the little pink pill front, there is no
more time
for patience. Sprout announced that it was resubmitting its pill
for FDA
reconsideration next month and a decision is expected sometime
this fall.
Considering the fact that Viagra has been on the market for
16 years,
there’s something very wrong and very chauvinist about how
long women
have been waiting.
mkeenan@detroitnews.com