Drugs like Viagra and Cialis created a sexual revolution for men, so why isn't there a libido pill for women?
Men got their sexual boost when Viagra hit the market in 1998, and drug companies have been working tirelessly ever since to create the female equivalent.
Millions of dollars have gone into researching new drugs, but the biology behind the female sex drive is incredibly complex.
Scientists have looked at increasing a woman's blood flow with Viagra, using hormones like in a testosterone patch and even trying anti-depressants to lift a woman's mood.
But the silver bullet remains elusive.
"The drug companies are finding it very hard to find a drug that's safe and effective," author Ray Moynihan told CTV News.
"There's been a number of attempts over the last 10 years, and each of them has failed."
Moynihan, who wrote Sex, Lies and Pharmaceuticals, believes the claims of sexual dysfunction disorders in women are grossly exaggerated.
He says that they are a marketing ploy by drug companies to find a pill that may not be the answer at all.
"To try and reduce the complexity of what's going wrong for people sexually to the simplicity of a drug solution is absurd and it's part of the marketing," Moynihan said.
Many sex therapists, like psychologist Dr. Lori Brotto, agree.
"It's certainly not a simple as, ‘Just give her a pill,'" Brotto said.
In fact, a whole new area of research is looking at the power of the placebo. Recent studies have found that just giving a woman a sugar pill she thinks will increase her desire can actually improve arousal.
"There is something about the placebo response relating to the mind, and when you are anticipating, when you are expecting, it does translate into real change," Brotto said.
That opens up a new avenue of treatment, without the side effects of medications, and confirms what many women have always suspected: the most powerful aphrodisiac is the right state of mind.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Dr. Rhonda Low
