Female Little Blue Pill: Bad Science?

Boehringer Ingelheim, a German drug company, has developed a drug called flibanserin, which some are calling the “female Viagra.” The drug is an antidepressant which holds some promise in making sex more pleasurable and desirable for women. The FDA is reviewing the drug today, and is expected to make a decision. (Boehringer Ingelheim is already preparing an advertising campaign for the drug, and have selected soap star and former Playboy model Lisa Rinna, who suffers from female sexual dysfunction, as their spokesmodel.)

However, many have spoken out against the drug, including Liz Canner, who directed the documentary “Orgasm, Inc.”

“I can’t see why it will be approved,” Canner told ABC News. “I am really shocked the drug has gone this far. Most women are healthy, and it’s not so much that their testosterone levels or serotonin levels or genital engorgement is a problem, it really is that a lot of women are in poor relationships and stressed out due to overwork.”

A Boehringer-funded study found that 43 percent of women experience sexual problems, but that only 12 percent are “distressed” by them. Side effects are unknown, but many of the outspoken critics of the drug believe that nothing good can come from chemically altering women’s natural biological rhythms.

What do you think – could such a drug be an effective treatment? Or is it a dangerous “solution” whose side-effects – biologically, psychologically, and culturally – be negative and destructive?