Orgasms and outrage

Experts on female sexual dysfunction gather in Boston and dance with their shirts off.

By Barbara Raab

Oct 28, 1999 | There is nothing quite as unsexy, as unstimulating, as listening to people talk about sex all day long.

That's what I did, for three days in a row, and the people I listened to were not just people who like to talk about sex. They were some of the most renowned sexperts in the world -- almost 450 of them -- from 19 countries, gathered in a luxurious downtown hotel at a Boston University School of Medicine meeting, "New Perspectives in the Management of Female Sexual Dysfunction." The program promised dozens of presentations with titles like "The Physiology of Sexual Arousal in the Human Female -- A Recreational and Procreational Synthesis" and "Importance of Measuring the Axial Penis Rigidity in Reference to the Resistance of Vaginal Introitus" (that is the official term for "Yeow - that hurts!").

What a difference a century makes. In 1899, a sexually enthusiastic woman would likely have been pathologized as a "nymphomaniac," and hospitalized for insanity, clitoridectomy or both, and a woman who didn't achieve a "vaginal orgasm" would be labeled psychosexually immature. In 1999, as our century reaches its climax, we have an international medical and scientific effort to encourage female sexuality, to help the more than 40 percent of American women who report one sexual complaint or another, be it lack of desire, difficulty achieving orgasm or excruciating pain instead of pleasure.

And so, for three glorious autumn days last week I sat in a ballroom with heavy drapes and crystal chandeliers and eavesdropped as people with M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., R.N., FDA and NIH after their names exchanged data, hypotheses, ideas, beliefs, questions, answers, "Grand Master" lectures, podium presentations, poster displays, prize-winning essays and countless PowerPoint presentations, all on the subject of female sexual dysfunction, or "FSD."

It was three days of immersion in the desire/arousal/orgasm/resolution cycle, vasocongestion ("that heavy feeling"), hormones and neurotransmitters; vaginas, lubrication and the clitoris (doesn't rhyme with the name of a Seinfeld date), but none of it was nearly as sexy as five minutes of Barry White.

More than one meeting attendee was heard speculating that if Viagra and its potential for tapping the other half of the gender market did not exist, this meeting probably wouldn't have either. And in fact, several large pharmaceutical companies provided "unrestricted educational grants" for this meeting. One of the largest, at the "Diamond Level," came from Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Inc., the maker of Viagra. As one speaker put it, "Sex sells. If you didn't know that before Viagra, you know it now."

I listened to a stunning blond Swedish researcher describe her experiments with Seldenafil (Viagra's real name) on "rat vaginal smooth muscle." Another researcher described her Viagra work on the "vaginal tissue strips" of New Zealand white rabbits; the cute little critters are "euthanized," their vaginal tissue is removed and cut into small strips, hung in chambers and bathed in drug solutions. The point, apparently, is to understand the mechanism that causes an actual woman's vagina to "relax" and "dilate," which is what occurs in sexual arousal, and to determine whether Viagra and other potential new drugs can help "enhance" that.

I saw pictures of turbocharged vibrators, gizmos for measuring and probing, and women lying on exam tables wearing weird 3-D sense-surround glasses watching Candida Royale erotic videos while a researcher sat at a computer five feet away measuring "pre-stim" and "post-stim" responses.

I saw charts and graphs and color duplex ultrasonograms of blood flow to the clitoris. I saw slides of vaginas turned literally inside-out, hanging outside the body between the patient's thighs, in a frightening example of "uterine prolapse."

I got a demonstration (on my inner wrist, alas) of a new device called the EROS-CTD, a battery-powered vacuum device that looks like a computer mouse with a small, clear, plastic suction cup at the end. The device is turned on and the suction cup is applied directly to the clitoris to "cause clitoral engorgement." Ah, I thought, finally! A penis pump women can call their own.

I even heard a few good jokes: (Quick, what's the difference between a golf ball and a G-spot?)

Next Page: Sex in an MRI machine

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