Abstract
Big Pharma, Women, and the Labour of Love delivers a much-needed discussion of the ability (and lack thereof) of pharmaceutical manufacturers to “medicalize” women’s sexual dysfunction. While Cacchioni starts out with a long introduction, that includes information that could perhaps have been incorporated into other areas of the book, she makes the struggles of researching the sensitive topic of women’s sexuality and the complexities of “normative” sexual response clear.
Cacchioni points out in Chapter 1 that after the popularity of the sexual pharmaceutical drug Viagra, drug companies quickly realized the potential profits of a “pink” Viagra that would provide similar benefits to women. In an attempt to secure a large market for their drug, researchers and the drug companies that funded them, declared that a large percentage of women suffer from female sexual dysfunction (FSD), which includes dysfunctional arousal, desire, orgasm, and sexual pain. The hope was that, should they ever design and market a drug, there would be large numbers of women clamoring for a drug that would “fix” their sexual problems. Some problems with this, as Cacchioni points out, are that the number of women with FSD has been greatly exaggerated, and the causes of FSD are multifaceted and complex. It is highly unlikely that there will ever be a “one-size-fits-all” pharmaceutical answer to FSD.
Citing discussions from women who suffer from sexual pain, Cacchioni debunks the myth that women’s sexual pain stems from sexual abuse and discusses how ingrained this myth has become within the medical community. She further discusses how heteronormative societal demands continue to limit and hold back women.
Cacchioni brings together the importance of all of these topics in her discussion of “the labour of love,” pointing out that whatever sexual issues women have, and whatever treatments they may seek for these issues, the overarching goal of these treatments is to attain sexually normative behaviors. These include frequent sexual desire, high arousal, and orgasm. Often, Cacchioni points out, the medical community’s goals of treatment may not sync with the goals of women seeking treatment. She discusses in detail many options for treatment, both medical and nonmedical, which involve considerable effort and commitment and are referred to as “sex work.” Sex work or “labour of love,” as Cacchioni terms it, can be pleasurable or unpleasant but constitutes work either way. She points out that women who seek treatment for pain/arousal issues are given this “one-size-fits-all” goal of heteronormative sexual function and that this by itself can make women feel worse than they did before they sought treatment. Cacchioni discusses her own research and that of others; she examines varieties and combinations of sex work that women are apt to utilize and considers women’s fears of the possible consequences of refusal to take part in this labour of love, the most dire of which include withdrawal of love and loss of relationship status.
Big Pharma, Women, and the Labour of Love brings attention to many important issues that affect women’s sexual health and happiness. Cacchioni’s common sense approach to women’s sexual dysfunction and her discussion of the varied ways of looking at women’s sexual function are empowering and inspiring. Cacchioni’s discussion of Big Pharma’s role in disease mongering in the instance of female sexual disorder can be extrapolated to include many other women’s (and men’s) issues that are currently being touted and “cured” by pharmaceutical companies. The danger of big pharmaceutical companies creating treatments, and then inventing disorders in order to hawk their products, is very real and especially important to address in this age of direct drug advertisements to the public. This is a book that should be read by all health-care professionals who treat women for sexual issues, and it is also very readable for the general public.