THE SCIENCE OF SEX vs I'VE GOT A HEADACHE

"Science is organized knowledge; wisdom is organized life." When Mark Twain wrote that, he was surely opting for wisdom. However, our giant pharmaceutical industry is surely more intrigued with profit than either science or wisdom. Especially when it comes to sex...!

Ever since Pfizer became a major player with its development of Viagra, everyone's been looking for a pill that will do the same for women. You see, the problem with some women is -- are you ready? -- Acquired Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder. Otherwise known as, "I've got a headache tonight!"

The boys in the white lab coats at first tried using Viagra with women. No dice, and no sex! So the race was on for something that would custom-fit the headachey women of the world. What better place than France -- where they take their sex seriously -- to announce a new prospect called Flibanserin. The name doesn't quite have the pizazz of Viagra, but interestingly it was discovered the same way. By accident.

Viagra was accidentally discovered in a search for a treatment for angina. Flibanserin was an accidental result of a search for treating depression. Which only goes to suggest that sometimes something can come out of nothing, which is of course the basic premise to science's Big Bang. But I digress...

Flibanserin (their marketing department simply has to come up with a sexier name) has gone through three clinical trials involving more than 1900 women. Their report reads: "Although the results were statistically significant, they amount on average to only a single extra-satisfying event per month."

Women will have to decide for themselves whether this makes the new drug worth their while. Needless to say, the final word won't come until Oprah does a splashy special on the matter. In the meantime, women will simply have to take the word of sex therapist Lenore Tiefer from NYU's school of medicine. He notes that the psychological appeal for this pill may exceed its actual medical benefits, therefore "women may be tempted -- or pressured -- to take the pill."

Lets see now -- at the rate of one "extra-satisfying event per month" times 150 million American adult women, that could total 1.8 billion more "events" every year. The mind -- and the libido -- boggles at the implications for population rates, climate change and the Viagra boys!