VIAGRA®: The wonder drug?
Sometimes when hearing or reading about Viagra® I am reminded of the fabulous Tom Waits song Step Right Up. Where Tom sells in style the qualities of an unnamed wonder product for all your needs and woes - "it gives you an erection, it wins the election". SEE the full lyrics here.
Viagra® is the wonder drug of the late 20th and early 21st Century, closely followed by its "me too" competitors Levitra® and Cialis®. Not To mention a host of Viagra alternatives.
It makes impotent men virile, restores manlihood, lifts the shame of erectile dysfunction, allows you to fulfill your sexual potential, resolves relationship difficulties, gives aging housewives a new gleam in their eyes, and gives men harder erections up until the end of their days.
When it was released on March 27th 1998 it was not just men with problems who wanted to try it, but perfectly healthy men buying into the myth that it would turn 60 year olds into 20 year old lovers, and 20 year olds into 7 times a night studs.
Which also goes some way to explaining its growth in usage as a recreational drug - sold in night clubs and on the black market, often known as "Poke". [1] Healthcare professionals are anxious about how ED drugs are being used with other recreational drugs.
However, despite all the hype, Viagra® does not automatically make men into better, and certainly not more attentive, lovers - as penetrative sex is not THE only thing that matters, especially for women (with 30-52% never having orgasms this way [2] ).
Viagra is not a holy grail. It will not turn a man into the Great Lover. No pill is capable of doing that. [3]
The fear of erectile dysfunction is even leading men to take smaller dosages of Viagra daily, in a similar way people take aspirin to ward off a future heart attack, as a preventative measure against future impotency.
[4] There is little doubt that Viagra® has had a massive impact on male sexual health and can often be positive for those suffering erectile dysfunction. Over the last 9 years an estimated 27 million men in 120 countries have been prescribed Viagra®, [5] while Pfizer claims that 9 Viagra® pills are dispensed every second, equalling almost 300 million tablets a year. [6] The annual sales for the big three (Viagra®, Levitra® and Cialis®) is believed to equal about $2.5 billion [7] with an estimated $400 million spent on advertising Viagra® alone in 2004. [8]
The very word Viagra® - known as the "magic blue pill" - has passed from being simply a drug brand name into the cultural lexicon with the same brand recognition as Coke or Nike [9] and has provided endless fresh fodder for stand up comedians everywhere.
