VIM, VIGOR AND VIAGRA
May 1, 1998
Score another breakthrough for the pill
culture.
Just when millions of graying Baby Boomers
were beginning to keep track of their sex
lives with calendars instead of clocks, here
comes a new drug called Viagra that helps
men get and sustain erections.
There is a temptation to scold . . . to warn
that Americans are medicating themselves
out of touch with their own bodies, not to
mention the world around them. Good diet
and regular exercise are still the best way to
remain vigorous and feel good about
oneself. Wildly popular anti-depressants
like Prozac are no substitute for friends and
family. Nor can fad diet regimes, like the
questionable Fen-Phen combination,
overcome too much fried food and
couch-sitting.
There's also the question of who's going to
pay. The sensational rate at which doctors
are prescribing Viagra (120,000
prescriptions in its second week) suggests
that not everyone trying this drug suffers
from clinical impotence. At $10 per pill,
insurance companies should take a hard line
against paying for what amounts to
recreational use. The last time we checked,
affordability of insurance was a bigger
national problem than shortage of whoopee.
Those reservations notwithstanding, the
arrival of Viagra--along with several other
potency drugs still in the approval
pipeline--only reaffirms a sense of awe at
this, the Age of Bio-science. Sure, such
drugs can be abused. Some can be
dangerous, though so far Viagra has
evinced only mild side effects. But these
breakthroughs also make our lives longer
and more worth living.
Having more frequent and satisfying sex is
an undeniably good thing, assuming the
partners are responsible, loving adults.
Some will complain that chemically
jump-starting the sexual motor is unnatural.
But how "natural" are the post-industrial
stresses and deadlines that bury our
sexuality in the first place? Same goes for
the new anti-depressants, which manipulate
chemical balances in the brain, thereby
lifting the veil of melancholy.
From the beginning of time, people have
suffered without hope from chronic
conditions like impotency and depression.
These are better times. Be thankful we live
in them.
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