Why female Viagra marks the beginning of a sexual revolution

An indisputable fact of the current world is that sexuality and sexual behaviour are considered to be a male dominion. Male sexuality is largely considered to be an active principle and female sexuality a passive one; an afterthought at best. Ascribing passivity to female sexuality in contrast to that of the "agile" male has been a source of malevolence in the human society since Plato's time. It has led to the repression of women as sexual beings and aggravated the ignorance around their sexual behaviour. Centuries of this one-sided rhetoric have resulted in warped views about human sexuality and undoubtedly led to much suffering.

In fact, until recently, we knew very little about female sexuality. The woman's sexuality was seen through a largely male utilitarian lens: either as a reproductive system or as a source of satisfaction to the male's needs. It is only now that women have started to assert their sexual preferences and the accompanied frustrations and rewards of sexually active adult life. As Naomi Wolf, author of the book Vagina: The new biography, put it: "'Vagina' has been taken away from us, which is why I feel like I've gotten so much criticism. Because I'm saying, "F*ck that shit." We have to name, we have to own, we have to speak in the first-person-sexual when it's appropriate, we have to interview other women about their sexual experiences when it's appropriate, we have to be sexual subjects and not sexual objects, and we need to create names for our own experience."

And the more the women assert themselves, the more we find out women are as much subject to vagaries of sexual performance and anxieties as men. The idea that female sexuality may not be very different from that of the male, and hence subject to similar principles is radical. It purports to turn the sexual dynamics between male and female on its head. It proposes that females can have sexually "off" days - it makes us think that a woman is not always sexually available. Thus, woman is no longer a passive partner in human sexual intercourse. She is able to assert herself and her needs like the male who has successfully done so for past hundreds of centuries. Sexual pleasure is therefore as much a woman's prerogative. Additionally rooted in the nuanced knowledge of female sexuality is the ethics of consensual sex. The men can, therefore, no longer take for granted her participation or servility when it comes to their sexual fulfilment.

Centuries of semi-slavery have led the woman to set aside her preferences and think about the pleasure of her partner more than listen to the rhythms of her body. Males need women for progeny and sexual satisfaction, but curiously enough this need is embedded in a sort of a master-slave relationship between the sexes. Like Simone de Beauvoir said, in human copulation, man is the master and "the master does not posit the need he has for the other; he holds the power to satisfy this need and does not mediate it; the slave, on the other hand, out of dependence, hope or fear, internalises his need for the master; however equally compelling the need may be to them both, it always plays in favour of the oppressor over the oppressed."

All that is changing. Women have started to reclaim their sex (biological functions and reproductive systems), gender (socially constructed role as a woman) and their sexuality (erotic behaviour). They say that their sexuality is their own business and refuse to feel bad about their needs that may be occasionally above the need of her children and her partners.Women are more aware of their sexuality and consequently sexual dysfunction. Traditionally, dysfunction - sexually speaking - is a male dominion. Erectile dysfunction or ED as it is conspicuously called has been the source of un-abated agony to the male kind. But who would have thought the sexual dysfunction that has plagued the male world for ages also affects females. Is it even biologically possible? Does a female have anything that can be affected by a dysfunction or a disease? These are to a non-female mind very relevant questions. But to science and scientists who study human biological behaviour and its course corrections, facts are clear. Female sexuality like male sexuality is subject to biological processes and considerations that can and will affect their desire for sex and also impact their general well being.

Fact is sexual dysfunction leads to lot of guilt in the females. They may feel this self-inadequacy; wonder if something is wrong with them. They may pretend that they have imaginary headaches, or pressing domestic needs that take precedence over sex. Sexual dysfunction could be because of stress, or anxiety, or other lifestyle issues. Medicine offers her a way out of this evasive guilt by pinpointing the issues that are outside of her identity. Instead, medicine tells her that what she is experiencing is normal and that she needs proper personal care and medical attention. It validates her concerns as they are. She need not suffer silently, feeling ashamed or isolated when she is suffering from sexual distress.

Doctors and the pharmaceutical companies are seeing female sexual dysfunction as a fertile field for research and interventions. Harvard Health Publication states that embedded in the concept of sexual dysfunction in females is asuggestion that there is an "acknowledged norm of female sexual function". What is that exactly? There are no quantifiable measures to female erection unlike that of the male. How does one establish success of arousal then? The suggestion is therefore sexual dysfunction in females is psychological - it resides in the brain. Thus, any drug related to female sexual decrease or dysfunction must target the brain, not the blood in the groin. While this statement can be interpreted in multiple manners, it is clear that even today we have not invested enough in studying female sexuality. Why don't we know about norm of female sexuality? Why is a Nobel Prize given to inventors of male Viagra while attempts for a female Viagra are seen with disdain and the product is considered to be sorcery dealing with the mind?

A pill called Flibransar, which was just approved by US FDA - packaged in pink and sold as female Viagra - claims to provide a solution to female sexual dysfunction. While one may raise questions about the mechanisms on which female Viagra works, or its potency, the idea that women's sexuality is important to human civilisation is revolutionary by itself. It means men will have to acknowledge that female sexuality exists and needs as much satisfaction as theirs. Also that females, just like males, are privy to sexual pleasure and this could be clinically driven.

This isn't the first time medicine has paid attention to the female sex. But female Viagra marks a shift in thinking from only the biological sexual traits of the female. It brings to the fore her sexual identity: Not in relation to her reproduction, but her pleasure and general well being. Female Viagra may not be perfect, but it marks the beginning of a dialogue that needs to happen to shatter perceptions about female sexual behaviour. Much more research is needed on the clinical, social, and psychological aspects of sexual function in women and its impact on their personal development.