The Rise of Viagra: How the Little Blue Pill Changed Sex in America

by Meika Loe

Overview

The first book to details the history and social implications of the little blue pill

Since its introduction in 1998, Viagra has launched a new kind of sexual revolution. Quickly becoming one of the most sought after drugs in history, the little blue pill created a sea change within the pharmaceutical industry—from how drugs could be marketed to the types of drugs put into development—as well as the culture at large. Impotency is no longer an embarrassing male secret; now it is called “erectile dysfunction,” and is simply something to “ask your doctor” about. And over 16 million men have.

The Rise of Viagra is the first book to detail the history and the vast social implications of the Viagra phenomenon. Meika Loe argues that Viagra has changed what qualifies as normal sex in America. In the quick-fix, pill-for-everything culture that Viagra helped to create, erections can now be had by popping a pill, making sex on demand, regardless of age or infirmity, and, potentially, for the rest of one's life.

Drawing on interviews with men who take the drug, their wives, doctors and pharmacists as well as scientists and researchers in the field, this fascinating account provides an intimate history of the drug's effect on America. Loe also examines the quest for the female Viagra, the impact of the drug around the world, the introduction of new erection drugs, like Levitra and Cialis, and the rapid growth of the multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical industry.

This wide-ranging book explains how this medical breakthrough and cultural phenomenon have forever changed the meaning of sex in America.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780814752005
Publisher:	New York University Press
Publication date:	08/11/2004
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.81(d)

About the Author

Meika Loe is Professor of Sociology and Women's Studies at Colgate University. She is the author of The Rise of Viagra: How the Little Blue Pill Changed Sex in America and Aging our Way: Lessons for Living from 85 and Beyond.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Preface: Bob Dole, Bill Clinton, Bazooms, and Me
1 Introducing Viagra
2 The Rise of Erectile Dysfunction
3 Fixing the Broken Male Machine
4 The Pill Doesn’t Always Thrill
5 The Search for the Female Viagra
6 APill for Everything?
Epilogue: A Hard Act to Follow
Appendix: Studying “Up”
Notes
Index
About the Author

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“[An] engaging account and trenchant critique of the powerful blue pill. Based on extensive research, and written with clarity, grace, and wit, The Rise of Viagra chronicles an incredible intertwining of bodies, pleasures, marketing savvy, and the undying quest for the medical fix.”
-Steven Epstein,author of Impure Science: AIDS, Activism, and the Politics of Knowledge

“A fine piece of contemporary history. The Rise of Viagra paints a thoughtful portrait, letting the reader decide whether the Viagra phenomenon is ultimately to be celebrated or rued.”
-Katharine Greider,author of The Big Fix: How the Pharmaceutical Industry Rips Off American Consumers

“Meika Loe’s book tells the story of Viagra with skill and verve. She brings to that tale a sharp eye, a fine ear, and just the right degree of irony.”
-Daniel Callahan,author of What Price Better Health: Hazards of the Research Imperative

“The book is not a polemic but a deep and thoughtful examination of derivative problems not anticipated by Viagra’s aggressive marketers. It is especially effective when placing the campaign to promote Viagra (a trade name) in the greater context of the medicalization of modern health care.”
-Choice,

“Meika Loe's core argument is that the unprecedented success of Viagra in America is not the result of an exciting scientific breakthrough bringing relief to the desperate or the dying. Rather, commercial interests have created a socially desirable but medically limited product-ironically, by denying the fundamentally social nature of sex. . . . The central argument gains pace throughout the book, becoming increasingly compelling as the ominous implications of Viagra for American society unfold.”
-The New England Journal of Medicine

Editorial Reviews

"A fine piece of contemporary history. The Rise of Viagra paints a thoughtful portrait, letting the reader decide whether the Viagra phenomenon is ultimately to be celebrated or rued."

Katharine Greider

"Meika Loes book tells the story of Viagra with skill and verve. She brings to that tale a sharp eye, a fine ear, and just the right degree of irony."

Daniel Callahan

"Meika Loe's core argument is that the unprecedented success of Viagra in America is not the result of an exciting scientific breakthrough bringing relief to the desperate or the dying. Rather, commercial interests have created a socially desirable but medically limited product-ironically, by denying the fundamentally social nature of sex. . . . The central argument gains pace throughout the book, becoming increasingly compelling as the ominous implications of Viagra for American society unfold."

The New England Journal of Medicine

The book is not a polemic but a deep and thoughtful examination of derivative problems not anticipated by Viagra’s aggressive marketers. It is especially effective when placing the campaign to promote Viagra (a trade name) in the greater context of the medicalization of modern health care.”
-Choice

“A fine piece of contemporary history. The Rise of Viagra paints a thoughtful portrait, letting the reader decide whether the Viagra phenomenon is ultimately to be celebrated or rued.”
-Katharine Greider,author of The Big Fix: How the Pharmaceutical Industry Rips Off American Consumers

“Meika Loe's core argument is that the unprecedented success of Viagra in America is not the result of an exciting scientific breakthrough bringing relief to the desperate or the dying. Rather, commercial interests have created a socially desirable but medically limited product-ironically, by denying the fundamentally social nature of sex. . . . The central argument gains pace throughout the book, becoming increasingly compelling as the ominous implications of Viagra for American society unfold.”
-The New England Journal of Medicine

“[An] engaging account and trenchant critique of the powerful blue pill. Based on extensive research, and written with clarity, grace, and wit, The Rise of Viagra chronicles an incredible intertwining of bodies, pleasures, marketing savvy, and the undying quest for the medical fix.”
-Steven Epstein,author of Impure Science: AIDS, Activism, and the Politics of Knowledge

“Meika Loe’s book tells the story of Viagra with skill and verve. She brings to that tale a sharp eye, a fine ear, and just the right degree of irony.”
-Daniel Callahan,author of What Price Better Health: Hazards of the Research Imperative

From the Publisher

"The book is not a polemic but a deep and thoughtful examination of derivative problems not anticipated by Viagras aggressive marketers. It is especially effective when placing the campaign to promote Viagra (a trade name) in the greater context of the medicalization of modern health care."

Choice

This book's punning title clues us in to its focus: discourse relating to Viagra and the medicalization of sexual dysfunctions, first men's and later women's. Drawing heavily on academic theories, Loe (sociology & women's studies, Colgate Univ.) tells a fascinating and sometimes disturbing tale of products discovered before science understood why they worked, diseases expanded to the worried well, and experts keeping cozy and often covert company with pharmaceutical companies. The story starts with the invention of the "little blue pill" and then covers "penis-as-machine" messages, cautions about the new drug, and the search for a female equivalent. This is not sociology Loe does not give statistics of messages, opinions, or behavior. It's more an agenda-driven anthropology of how medicine, the pharmaceutical industry, journalists, and lay people have spoken and written about Viagra and sexual dysfunction and what that might mean about us. Says Loe, real people and their needs have been given short shrift by this discourse. Recommended for business, medical, and sex collections in academic and large public libraries. Martha Cornog, Philadelphia Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

"[An] engaging account and trenchant critique of the powerful blue pill. Based on extensive research, and written with clarity, grace, and wit, The Rise of Viagra chronicles an incredible intertwining of bodies, pleasures, marketing savvy, and the undying quest for the medical fix."

Steven Epstein