Women’s rights have, in perpetuity, taken a step back to men’s. We’ve seen the overturning of Roe V. Wade and a rollback on abortion rights. Women have always had to take on the burden for sexual health and protection in regards to pregnancy, whether taking the pill or IUD implants. It’s also taken more recent years to reconsider menstrual hygiene products, like period panties and silicone cups as opposed to toxin filled tampons or pads. It may come to no surprise that society has also been indifferent to worrying about women’s pleasure.
Viagra and Cialis have long existed to help men with arousal issues. Sold on Black markets, prescription ready, even at gas stations – men can get pills to help themselves be ready to perform in the bedroom. Unfortunately there seems to be a mindset that women just need to submit, receive, be happy that the man wants them, and not worry about actual arousal, pleasure or having an orgasm. The documentary The Pink Pill has shown the efforts women have gone to have their own arousal pill approved by the FDA, and is available to watch on Paramount+.
Cindy Eckert, founder of Sprout Pharmaceuticals, first heard of the idea of a female version of Viagra by a sexual specialist scientist in the early 2000s. It took years of advocacy for her to meet with the FDA who continued to add more and more arbitrary parameters to getting the pill, Addyi, to market. As she met, and jumped through, every hurdle put in her path, women signed up for the trial to reignite their sex lives. Many were diagnosed with Hypoactive sexual desire disorder though they had been previously active. Many of these women were made to feel the lack of desire came with age, with menopause or peri-menopause, or was a result of motherhood. The women in the documentary shared that The Pink Pill worked for them, but they had to provide public testimonial and fight for the pill to see the light of day through the FDA, who continued to move the goal post on Eckert.
The documentary, featuring Eckert, directed by Aisling Chin-Yee and executive produced by Knox founder Joanna Griffiths, shows just how biased the FDA was, how difficult the process was for Eckert who fought for Addyi for decades, and shares where the pill is today. Stream the documentary now, on Paramount +.
Hillary LeBlanc
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