The Viagra Phenomenon

Contemporary constructions of sexuality can change direction faster than a competitive ballroom dancer and it can be hard to keep track of all the new developments. Regulatory regimes abound and even proliferate yet mass media proclaim the end of the double standard and the advent of sexual emancipation. In 1998, in yet another major twist, a new sexuopharmaceutical era was inaugurated by governmental approval of Viagra, a drug to treat impotence that rapidly achieved amazing levels of global recognition. It will be important to sexuality studies and to sexuality policy that this topic develops sufficient empirical and theoretical traction to pursue analyses of its meanings and effects on sociocultural, political, economic and personal dimensions as they unfold over time. One important challenge of such ‘Viagra Studies’ is to examine the phenomenon of Viagra itself, beginning with the legend of its discovery and the media spectacle surrounding its approval. This essay begins with the galloping popularity of pill-taking as an element in trajectories both of the medicalization and demedicalization of sexuality. Although new systems of regulation often serve to reinscribe old forms of control, and urologists' current involvement in sexuality classification and treatment seems to follow old paths of biological reduction and medical authority, factors such as the Internet may shift the sexuality dance in unpredicted directions. After tracing some of the less-known stories behind the Viagra legend, this essay concludes with a nod to rising coalitions of resistance.