Tracking women’s orgasms is a top editorial priority at Anne of Carversville. 

Hopefully, we do a good job of distilling the facts about female sexuality, and that includes the dreams of big pharma to create the equivalent of Viagra for women.

On May 27, 2010 “Orgasm Inc.” has its film debut at New York’s Lincoln Center. Three weeks later, on June 18, the German manufacturer Boehringer Ingelheim goes before the FDA, seeking approval for its pill with the unsexy name “flibanserin”, the focus of its flower-inspired research on four groups of women who participated in trials in Fall 2009.

Tank’s Masha Novoselova by Sofia Sanchez & Mauro MongielloSensuality News Embraces Sexual Intimacy

Let us get our own prejudices on the table.

We believe that women — and disproportionately more American women— underrate the health benefits of positive sexuality in their lives. We’re sad that orgasms get such such minor play among intelligent American women, who consistently say that besides an extra hour of sleep, they would rather read a book or watch a movie.

Statistics from a recent survey by the National Sleep Foundation indicate that White women and Asians put a lower priority on sex vs sleep, than Latino and African American women. Don’t shoot us. This is one ‘fact’ we embrace as a good one, and not a stereotypical assessment of Latino and African American propensity for sexual activity. 

Blacks|African Americans and Latinos are 10 times as likely to report having sex every night as Whites and Asians and 2.5 times more likely than Whites.

At AOC, we have hot blood in our veins, too and believe that nothing could be better for women’s health than frequent orgasms, even if she goes solo.

Medicalizing Sexual Desire

The big story around the Boehringer Ingelheim FDA application is the “medicalization” of female sexual desire. There is no new script here, although the research facts are revealing, and we will restate them. American women are understandably aggravated at having their lack of sexual desire put under the microscope, as one more “failing” or imperfection.

Big pharma claims they are only trying to fill a valid medical need expressed by some women to reignite their libidos. Unfortunately, all women will be subjected to the advertising messages, and they are tough to tune out, especially if hubby is in the room.

Even if a woman is positive about her lack of sexual libido, she will be confronted with the medical opportunity of correcting it. Look at the ad campaigns for Viagra, Cialis and Levitra. Every survey says that men desire sex more than women (with the statistical opposite, of course). Women may get a trip to the doctor for Christmas.

The Sexual High Bar

More so than women in other countries, American women hold ourselves against an impossible to achieve set of Wonder Woman standards, and then drown in unhappiness and self-loathing, when we can’t achieve them. Many of those standards are our own, and others are imposed by culture, religion and business marketing.

Our perceived “failures” can turn us against our own psyches and bodies, frequently eating too much comfort food as an escape and not wanting to be seen naked with the lights on.

A few years ago Cosmo advised women to put pink lights in the bedroom, because they minimize the appearance of cellulite visible to “him” when we’re walking to the bathroom naked. With friends like Cosmo, American women don’t need enemies, and I commented just that to them. Horrible!

Tank’s Masha Novoselova by Sofia Sanchez & Mauro MongielloAmerican Culture and Female Sexual Desire

Compared to European women, Americans are hammered with religious and family-values guilt messages, until we agree that it’s nearly impossible to pursue sensible but unrestrained sensual delight with a loving partner.

Some members of the American clergy have changed course, recognizing that pleasure and positive sexuality are core foundations in a successful marriage or partnership. Many more pulpits continue to broadcast the sullied nature of female sexuality and hold women responsible for the corruption of the social order.