GESTIÓN EN SALUD PÚBLICA: BioEdge: ‘Hypoactive sexual desire disorder’: a diagnosis looking for a drug

sábado, 22 de junio de 2019

BioEdge: ‘Hypoactive sexual desire disorder’: a diagnosis looking for a drug

BioEdge: ‘Hypoactive sexual desire disorder’: a diagnosis looking for a drug

Bioedge

‘Hypoactive sexual desire disorder’: a diagnosis looking for a drug

by Michael Cook | 22 Jun 2019 |

The controversial disorder known as hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD) is back in the news. Pharmaceutical companies have been accused of exaggerating the importance of HSDD so that they can sell anxious customers a lucrative drug, but sexual health experts counter that it is wrong to deny women a product which can help their mental health.

The latest development is that the US Food and Drug Administration has approved injections of bremelanotide to treat HSDD. The chief medical officer at AMAG Pharmaceuticals, which owns the drug, described HSDD as “largely under-recognised” and “most common female sexual dysfunction condition”.

Critics contend that medication is not the answer to the complex problems of women’s sexuality. “It’s a mismatch of models,” Leonore Tiefer, a sex therapist who previously ran the sex and gender clinic at New York’s Montefiore Medical Center, told Stat. “They want the car repair model: ‘Hello, doctor, I’ve got this carburetor that doesn’t work in my car. Could you fix it for me without talking to me?’ It’s laughable.”

According to Stat, investors are sceptical as well. They remember the failure of the ballyhooed drug Addyi, which was also supposed to treat HSDD. Its sales have fallen 90% since its approval in 2015. Market analysts attribute it to the fact that it cannot be mixed with alcohol.

In a partial vindication of sceptics’ view that HSDD is a way of exploiting women, Sprout Pharmaceuticals, the owner of Addyi, has launched a new marketing campaign to revive its commercial potential. A social media campaign features a meme with the message: “15 million women suffer from hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD). Satisfaction is the next crucial step in the female sexual revolution.” A website features a “sexual desire quiz” whose answer is – you guessed it – Addyi.

“To hear our [feminist] language co-opted” upsets Cindy Pearson, the executive director of the National Women’s Health Network. “It’s really bittersweet to see it co-opted to sell, and sell a product that isn’t that good,” she told The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Michael Cook is editor of BioEdge

This week Governor Andrew Cuomo threw in his cards, beaten in his attempt to pass a law legalising commercial surrogacy in New York. He was furious. “I say, how about a woman’s right to choose, which we just argued for Roe v. Wade?” Cuomo said in exasperation. (See article below.)

The thing is, Governor, the women did choose. They chose to oppose a bill which would exploit them. And it wasn't just the religious types. Deborah Glick, the first openly gay person to sit in the state assembly, said that Cuomo was not being respectful. “I certainly do not think that there is sufficient protection for the women who do not appear to be considered as people in the arrangement, but rather as the donor and as the surrogate.”

She is not alone. The president of the National Organization for Women said: "Commercial surrogacy does not depend on the willing choice of friends or family to help loved ones, instead it relies on the commodification of women’s bodies. History has shown us that the buying, selling and renting of their bodies does great harm to women."

It appears that Cuomo has failed to deliver on a promise to gay men to legalise commercial surrogacy so that they can rent the wombs of needy women. When push comes to shove, a new, rainbow-coloured patriarchy is just as ready to exploit women, feminists included, as the old patriarchy.