# Women's Viagra: apparently Viagra has an effect, but women interpret it differently **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 10, 2016, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/womens-viagra-apparently-viagra-has-an-effect-but-women-interpret-it-differently/748534 "2016-03-10T12:20:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/womens-viagra-apparently-viagra-has-an-effect-but-women-interpret-it-differently/748534/1 "2016-03-10T12:20:16Z")
Listening to NPR this morning. Piece on that new “women’s Viagra” (Flibanserin??) - it is being reported to have a minimal increase in a woman’s amount of good sex, or something thereabouts. On NPR, they were talking with a woman physician, I think a prof at an Ivy League school. As almost an aside towards the end, the reporter asked her “so, will there be a female Viagra?” and the MD said “there already is: the original Viagra. It has the same effect on blood flow, etc. on women as men. And women report experiencing those effects but _not translating that to feeling more aroused_. It is clear that women are aroused by other factors, and those physical responses are a much smaller part of the arousal equation for women vs. men.” (not the exact quote, but the gist) I thought that was fascinating. At the end of her comments, the reporter asked something like “So what does that tell us about women?” and she replied “I have absolutely no idea.” 😉 ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/womens-viagra-apparently-viagra-has-an-effect-but-women-interpret-it-differently/748534/2 "2016-03-10T14:14:58Z")
Well, being that men take Viagra in order to make an erection more likely, rather than simply to be sexually aroused, I’m not surprised by the results – why would we _expect_ women to get more sexually aroused, when it doesn’t have that effect on men? You’d think that there would be some effects, nonetheless. Increasing blood flow would help engorge women’s sexual organs. And it would seem to me that anything that could help encourage a male erection would help stimulate or arouse a clitoris. But this is beyond my region of expertise. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/womens-viagra-apparently-viagra-has-an-effect-but-women-interpret-it-differently/748534/3 "2016-03-10T14:49:01Z")
Do you guys not get boners when you are not turned on? Especially when you are young? Difference is your boner kind of makes an immediate “do something about me now” announcement. Whereas if women get the same thing - engorged genitalia (sexy!) and maybe even get wet, it’s not so urgent and we can easily ignore it. Arousal is all in the head. Women have gotten wet while being raped. That doesn’t mean they were turned on or liked it, it just means the body naturally physically responded to physical stimulation. I am really disappointed in that woman’s comment “I have no idea”. Really? You don’t know that physical and mental arousal are different and only linked sometimes? ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/womens-viagra-apparently-viagra-has-an-effect-but-women-interpret-it-differently/748534/4 "2016-03-10T15:13:00Z")
I am checking Morning Edition’s website to see if I can find the recording or transcript once they post it. I see other articles I have heard this morning, but not that one. I am pretty sure I captured her “no idea” reply correctly by intent if not by exact wording. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/womens-viagra-apparently-viagra-has-an-effect-but-women-interpret-it-differently/748534/5 "2016-03-10T15:15:58Z")
It’s actually one of my personal campaigns to eliminate ignorance: Gentlemen, just because she’s wet down there does _not_ mean she is aroused! ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/womens-viagra-apparently-viagra-has-an-effect-but-women-interpret-it-differently/748534/6 "2016-03-10T16:07:51Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > Do you guys not get boners when you are not turned on? Especially when you are young? Difference is your boner kind of makes an immediate “do something about me now” announcement. Whereas if women get the same thing - engorged genitalia (sexy!) and maybe even get wet, it’s not so urgent and we can easily ignore it. > > Arousal is all in the head. Women have gotten wet while being raped. That doesn’t mean they were turned on or liked it, it just means the body naturally physically responded to physical stimulation. And guaifenesin can get me wet, it thins and increases cervical mucous … doesn’t mean I am turned on, just peeved because it can get my panties soaked and needing a change. [Because I take it when I am having chest congestion, not a period when I am looking to get frisky with mrAru] ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/womens-viagra-apparently-viagra-has-an-effect-but-women-interpret-it-differently/748534/7 "2016-03-10T16:53:32Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > Do you guys not get boners when you are not turned on? Especially when you are young? Difference is your boner kind of makes an immediate “do something about me now” announcement. I didn’t get random boners for no reason after about age 14. Beyond that age, if I was engorged it meant I was aroused by something/someone. So no: Viagra would have no arousing effect of itself. ETA: okay, one instance does happen: morning boners when awakening. Which just means I need to pee, not that I’m aroused. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/womens-viagra-apparently-viagra-has-an-effect-but-women-interpret-it-differently/748534/8 "2016-03-10T17:04:17Z")
> [@squeegee](#): > > ETA: okay, one instance does happen: morning boners when awakening. Which just means I need to pee, not that I’m aroused. Actually, recent research points to high testosterone production during the night, rather than the need to urinate. We don’t get erections from having to pee any other time, no matter how severe. ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/womens-viagra-apparently-viagra-has-an-effect-but-women-interpret-it-differently/748534/9 "2016-03-10T17:27:02Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > It’s actually one of my personal campaigns to eliminate ignorance: Gentlemen, just because she’s wet down there does _not_ mean she is aroused! Find another soapbox. Let us have some illusions, it’s hard enough trying figure women out as it is. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/womens-viagra-apparently-viagra-has-an-effect-but-women-interpret-it-differently/748534/10 "2016-03-10T17:29:44Z")
> [@G0sp3l](#): > > Find another soapbox. Let us have some illusions, it’s hard enough trying figure women out as it is. Why, because you say so? Hell no, this is important. Maybe you should listen when women are telling you stuff instead of trying to cast us as some kind of mystery. ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/womens-viagra-apparently-viagra-has-an-effect-but-women-interpret-it-differently/748534/11 "2016-03-10T18:17:58Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > Why, because you say so? Hell no, this is important. Maybe you should listen when women are telling you stuff instead of trying to cast us as some kind of mystery. Ummm, you seem to have taken that more seriously than I intended. The only chance of me knowing if a woman is aroused will be in circumstances where it would normally be expected. That’s probably true of most men or women. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/womens-viagra-apparently-viagra-has-an-effect-but-women-interpret-it-differently/748534/12 "2016-03-10T19:07:24Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > Actually, recent research points to high testosterone production during the night, rather than the need to urinate. We don’t get erections from having to pee any other time, no matter how severe. But, lo! It got that way sans Viagra. So that’s moot. ETA: which plays off of Anaamika’s point above re women and wetness: just because I wake up hard doesn’t mean I’m aroused. ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/womens-viagra-apparently-viagra-has-an-effect-but-women-interpret-it-differently/748534/13 "2016-03-10T19:20:12Z")
Yeah, I think the doctor or someone interpreting her remarks is badly misunderstanding how Viagra works - you don’t take it to get aroused, you take it to get a firm erection which is needed for ‘standard’ sex. Females don’t actually need anything erect for PIV sex, so it doesn’t really have an analagous effect on. There’s a big association of ‘boner’ with ‘turned on’ in popular culture, but they’re really two separate things that often happen at the same time. ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/womens-viagra-apparently-viagra-has-an-effect-but-women-interpret-it-differently/748534/14 "2016-03-10T19:22:04Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > We don’t get erections from having to pee any other time, no matter how severe. I have that happen occasionally. It’s nowhere near universal, but if I have to pee badly I will sometimes have one that won’t go away until I get to the bathroom. I’m not sure how common it is, but you shouldn’t just dismiss it entirely. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/womens-viagra-apparently-viagra-has-an-effect-but-women-interpret-it-differently/748534/15 "2016-03-10T19:24:47Z")
> [@G0sp3l](#): > > Ummm, you seem to have taken that more seriously than I intended. > > The only chance of me knowing if a woman is aroused will be in circumstances where it would normally be expected. That’s probably true of most men or women. Yeah, well, while I understand what you mean, I didn’t find your joke funny. This is how it goes down: “She liked it! She was wet! It wasn’t rape! It wasn’t coercion!” I won’t apologize for being serious about something that is very serious to me. ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/womens-viagra-apparently-viagra-has-an-effect-but-women-interpret-it-differently/748534/16 "2016-03-10T19:58:20Z")
AIUI, Viagra is simply a plumbing compound. It gets taken when a man _Wants_ to be aroused. Since the glans is full of nerves (ladies, sound familiar?), getting it in condition to be rubbed the right way will produce the desired mindset quickly enough. For women, the problem is more getting the mindset **First** and letting the nerves come later. Not particularly well-stated, but maybe you can decipher it. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/womens-viagra-apparently-viagra-has-an-effect-but-women-interpret-it-differently/748534/17 "2016-03-10T20:04:24Z")
If a man is sexually turned on but cannot get an erection, Viagara may make it possible to get the erection. If a man is not sexually turned on, Viagara usually will not cause an erection. Viagara does not cause a man to be sexually turned on. In that sense, it is no surprise that Viagara does not cause a woman to be sexually turned on either. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/womens-viagra-apparently-viagra-has-an-effect-but-women-interpret-it-differently/748534/18 "2016-03-10T21:01:26Z")
I have rechecked the NPR site for “female viagra” and “addyi” the name of the drug. I still don’t see a transcript for it. It does seem to make sense that it supports, but doesn’t create, arousal. I hope I didn’t misrepresent what the woman said. Not looking to stir a pot. ---
**Author:** ![dizzee\_dee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7c8e57/32.png) [@dizzee\_dee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dizzee_dee)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/womens-viagra-apparently-viagra-has-an-effect-but-women-interpret-it-differently/748534/19 "2016-03-10T21:30:23Z")
When they first started talking about the upcoming FDA release of this “female viagra” I heard an interview with a WOMAN! Doctor (They made a big deal of her sex, not her specialty) and she talked about how she would need to have her patients psychologically evaluated before she would be prescribing it. And it kind of pissed me off. I remember when Viagra, and later Cialis, were new and available as samples… Our docs were giving them out like candy. No one EVER suggested that a man needing help in the bedroom was psychologically damaged. And FYI increasing blood flow to the girlie bits might not MAKE sexual arrousal, but is should help with increased sensation in the area and therefore increase satisfaction. YMMV ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2016, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/womens-viagra-apparently-viagra-has-an-effect-but-women-interpret-it-differently/748534/20 "2016-03-11T15:45:22Z")
> [@dizzee\_dee](#): > > When they first started talking about the upcoming FDA release of this “female viagra” I heard an interview with a WOMAN! Doctor (They made a big deal of her sex, not her specialty) and she talked about how she would need to have her patients psychologically evaluated before she would be prescribing it. And it kind of pissed me off. > > I remember when Viagra, and later Cialis, were new and available as samples… Our docs were giving them out like candy. No one EVER suggested that a man needing help in the bedroom was psychologically damaged. Because they are totally different. Viagra and Cialis are strictly physical drugs. By that, I mean they restore/enhance a man’s ability to have an erection. Addyi is a behavior modifying drug. It’s supposed to make a woman desire to have more sex. In short, Viagra is for men who want to have sex but can’t, Addyi is for women who can have sex but don’t want to. It raises a lot of questions that Viagra doesn’t. Like, where do we draw the line between normal and a medical issue. Is it when a woman is turned on 10, 9, 8, 7… times a month? Then after we do that, the question is what is actually the issue here. Is it the woman’s relative lack of sexual desire or her reaction to it? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/womens-viagra-apparently-viagra-has-an-effect-but-women-interpret-it-differently/748534.md?page=2)