Female sexual dysfunction - fact or fiction?

Since the advent of oral erectile dysfunction treatments, such as Viagra, male sexual dysfunction has been thrust into the spotlight and has become recognised as a serious condition that can seriously affect the quality of life of many sufferers. While we all acknowledge that the inability to maintain an erection can be devasting for a man, how much do we know about female sexual dysfunction (FSD).

For Low Libido treatments & prices

There has been much debate surrounding the issue, with some even going as far as suggesting that it is more of a commercial invention rather than a real medical condition. Experts have accused pharmaceutical companies and their researchers of cynically creating the disorder to provide a multi-million dollar market for new drugs. With The British Medical Journal going as far as to call it, "the corporate-sponsored creation of a disease".

It is true that the drugs giants are now competing harder than ever to find the magical medicine that will provide fulfillment for women whose sex drive is no longer there. However, dismissing female sexual dysfunction as being dreamed up as a way of making enormous profits from sales of tablets and creams to unhappy, mostly middle-aged women undermines the suffering of many thousands of women and encourages a blatant double standard. Like FSD the causes of male erectile dysfunction can be physiologically or psychologically based but few would dare to accuse an impotent man of "faking it".

There is no doubt that thousands of women suffer from female sexual dysfunction. The condition's characteristics are said to include a loss of interest in sex, less enjoyable sex, diminished sensation and inability to achieve orgasm. The problem is not purely mechanical, but a interaction of psychological, hormonal and possibly physiological factors. Because so little research has been carried out on women who have lost their libido, it has become difficult to form even a proper definition of the condition with the result that female sexuality is still something of a mystery.

Sex in the right emotional context is important to most women and there are cases where women say no to sex because they feel unloved, ignored or simply dead tired. In these cases the dysfunction is due to a fault in the relationship rather than anything medical. But to dismiss all FSD as fictional does a huge disservice to all the women who have to live with this. Like erectile dysfunction couples are very reluctant, very embarrassed to talk about FSD. There's this myth that women discuss it among themselves, but they don't. They go to the GP who tells them it is their age, or a stage they are going through, instead of taking it seriously and referring them to a specialist.

Maybe its time to give female sexual dysfunction the same level of recognition as its male counterpart, and stop dismissing it as being "all in the head".

Back to women and impotence index

 

If you prefer to talk to someone directly please phone us on +44 (0)870 199 5287 and our customer service people will be happy to help.

Secure Online Payment by Thawte