Viagra was released in 1998 and, as Abraham Morgentaler so aptly wrote in his book
The Viagra Myth (2003), ‘the world has not been the same
since’. Representations of Viagra appeared in a variety of popular
cultural and media texts and participated in the ‘craze’ known
as ‘Viagramania’. Drawing on, and extending the work of Meika
Loe, The Rise of Viagra (2004) in the United States, we explore some of the
changes in depictions of Viagra and masculine sexualities in the New Zealand context
under the framings: ‘Viagra-as-Joke’, ‘Legitimate
Viagra’ (which includes ‘Romance Drug Viagra’ and
‘Masculinity Pill Viagra’), and ‘Party Pill
Viagra’. We suggest that changes in popular portrayals of Viagra from 1998
to the present, as well as a decrease in the range of popular genres/forms in which
Viagra appears, contribute to a narrowing in discourses of masculine sexuality in
which the emphasis is increasingly on penile performance and enhancement.
Connell, R. W.
(1995) Masculinities.
Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of
California Press
.
7.
Critchley, Simon
(2002) On Humour.
London and New York: Routledge
.
8.
Davies, S.
(2003)
‘The Male Sexual Revolution is in Full Swing’
, Remix (37, August/September):
74–75
.
9.
D'Emilio, John
and
Freedman, Estelle
(1997) Intimate Matters: A History of Sexuality in
America (2nd edn).
Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press
.
10.
Eagle, Lynne
and
Kitchen, Philip
(2002)
‘Direct Consumer Promotion of Prescription Drugs: A Review of the
Literature and the New Zealand Experience’
, International Journal of Medical Marketing2(4):
293–310
.
11.
Fishman, Jennifer
and
Mamo, Laura
(2001) ‘What's in a Disorder: A
Cultural Analysis of Medical and Pharmaceutical Constructions of Male and Female
Sexual Dysfunction’, in
Ellyn Kaschak
and
Leonore Tiefer
(eds) A New View of Women's Sexual Problems, pp.
179–194.
New York: The Haworth Press
.
12.
Friedman, David
(2001) A Mind of its Own: A Cultural History of the
Penis.
New York: The Free Press
.
13.
Gallop, Jane
(1988) Thinking Through the Body.
New York: Columbia University Press
.
14.
Gatens, Moira
(1996) Imaginary Bodies: Ethics, Power and
Corporeality.
London: Routledge
.
15.
Handy, B.
(1998)
‘The Viagra Craze’
, Time (4 May):
36–43
.
16.
Harris, G.
(2003)
‘After 5 years, Rivals Emerge Ready to give Viagra a Fight’
, The New York Times (21 August):
C1-C1
.
17.
Hirschman, Elizabeth
,
Scott, Linda
and
Wells, William
(1998)
‘A Model of Product Discourse: Linking Consumer Practice to
Cultural Texts’
, Journal of Advertising27(1):
33–51
.
18.
Hollway, Wendy
(1989) Subjectivity and Method in Psychology: Gender, Meaning
and Science.
London: Sage
.
19.
Jansson, Andre
(2002)
‘The Mediatization of Consumption – Towards an
Analytical Framework of Image Culture’
, Journal of Consumer Culture2(1):
5–31
.
20.
Kleinfield, N. R.
(1998)
‘In the Vortex of “Viagra Madness”’
, The New York Times (6 May):
B.1–B.2
.
21.
Lembeck, M.
(1998) Mad About You, TV series, Season
opener for Season 7, broadcast 22 September 1998. Directed by M. Lembeck.
22.
Loe, Meika
(2001)
‘Fixing Broken Masculinity: Viagra as a Technology for the
Production of Gender and Sexuality’
, Sexuality and Culture5(3):
97–125
.
23.
Loe, Meika
(2004) The Rise of Viagra: How the Little Blue Pill Changed
Sex in America.
New York: New York University Press
.
24.
Mamo, Laura
and
Fishman, Jennifer
(2001)
‘Potency in all the Right Places: Viagra and the Technology of
the Gendered Body’
, Body & Society7(4):
13–35
.
Morgentaler, Abraham
(2003) The Viagra Myth: The Surprising Impact on Love and
Relationships.
San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass
.
27.
Moynihan, Ray
and
Cassels, Allan
(2005)
‘Sex, Drugs and Dollars’
, The Sydney Morning Herald, Good Weekend Magazine (28
May):
27–35
.
28.
New Zealand Doctor,
Pfizer Viagra advertisement
, 3 March 1999:
46–48
.
29.
New Zealand Listener,
Pfizer Viagra advertisements
, 5 June 1999:
31–33
; 17 February 2001: 96; 17 March 2001: 15.
30.
news.bbc
(2003) ‘Viagra Spam Fills Mail
Inboxes’ (31 December), URL (accessed 21 January 2004): http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3362489.stm
31.
Nixon, Sean
(1997) ‘Exhibiting
Masculinity’, in
S. Hall,
(ed.) Representation: Cultural Representation and Signifying
Practices.
London and Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage
.
32.
Oliviero, H.
(2004)
‘Thrill in a Pill: More Young Men are Turning to “Mr.
Blue” to Enhance their Sexual Function’
, The Atlanta Journal – Constitution(9
January):
B1-B1
.
33.
Pfizer Viagra web site (n.d.) URL (accessed 7 July 2005): http://www.viagra.com/partners/aboutViagra.asp
34.
Potts, Annie
(2002) The Science/Fiction of Sex.
London and New York: Routledge
.
35.
Potts, Annie
,
Gavey, Nicola
,
Grace, Victoria
and
Vares, Tiina
(2003)
‘The Downside of Viagra: Women's Experiences and Concerns’
, Sociology of Health and Illness25(7):
697–719
.
36.
Potts, Annie
,
Grace, Victoria
,
Gavey, Nicola
and
Vares, Tiina
(2004)
‘Viagra Stories: Challenging “Erectile Dysfunction”’
, Social Science and Medicine59(3):
489–499
.
37.
Rubens, Mark
(1999) The Rise and Rise of Viagra, September
Films Production for Channel 4 documentary, broadcast New Zealand 11 March.
Produced and directed by Mark Rubens.
38.
Seibert, S.
(1998)
‘The Culture of Viagra, Tomorrow... The World’
, Newsweek (22 June):
38-38
.
39.
Seidman, Steven
(1991) Romantic Longings: Love in America,
1830–1980.
New York: Routledge
.
40.
seniorjournal.com
(n.d.) ‘Viagra advertisements ordered off air, company begins
anti-counterfeit programme’, URL (accessed 14 June 2005): http://www.seniorjournal.com/NEWS/Sex/4–11–16ViagraAd.htm
41.
St. John, W.
(2003)
‘In an Oversexed Age, More Guys take a Pill’
, The New York Times (14 December):
9-9.1
.
42.
Teather, D.
(2005)
‘Microsoft and Pfizer Fight Fake Viagra Spammers’
, The Guardian (11 February), available online, URL
(accessed 17 June 2005): http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,1410520,00.html
43.
Tiefer, Leonore
(2004) Sex is Not a Natural Act and Other Essays.
Boulder, CO: Westview Press
.
44.
viagra-humor.com (n.d.) URL (accessed March 2006): http://www.viagrahumor.com
45.
Washington Post(1999)
‘Potent Medicine: A Year Ago Viagra Hit the Shelves and the Earth
Moved. Well, Sort of’
, (26 March):
C01-C01
. Available on URL (accessed 1 July 2003)
http://www.prn.usm.my/viagra/isreal.html 01/07/2003
