Female Sexual Dysfunction: A Case Study of Disease Mongering and Activist Resistance

Abstract:  The creation and promotion of “female sexual dysfunction” (FSD) is a textbook case of disease mongering by the pharmaceutical industry and by other agents of medicalization, such as health and science journalists, healthcare professionals, public relations and advertising firms, contract research organizations, and others in the “medicalization industry.” Whether one relies on Lynn Payer's original definition of disease mongering (“trying to convince essentially well people that they are sick, or slightly sick people that they are very ill”), her checklist, or the analysis of our pill-popping society that was recently offered by Greg Critser, the sequence of events and cast of participants involved in FSD matches the classic disease-mongering tactics. Each physical condition or life event that has been subject to disease-mongering tactics has its own unique history. Sexual life has become vulnerable to disease mongering for two main reasons. First, a long history of social and political control of sexual expression created reservoirs of shame and ignorance that make it difficult for many people to understand sexual satisfaction or cope with sexual problems in rational ways. Second, popular culture has greatly inflated public expectations about sexual function and the importance of sex to personal and relationship satisfaction. Cit ation: Tiefer L (2006) Female Sexual Dysfunction: A Case Study of Disease Mongering and Activist Resistance. PLoS Med 3(4): e178. doi:10.1371/journal. pmed.0030178