When men were turned into sex machines

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By Marjut Lindberg
     
      When women in the late 1960s and early 1970s noticed that they had been turned into sex objects, a considerable uproar ensued. The toughest feminists attended seminars, and during breaks, old brassieres were set on fire [figuratively - see link].
      When men in this decade have suffered the same fate, the reaction has been quite muted. The few who have thought out loud have been women or sociologists.
     
Male sexuality was objectified and medicalised in a clever manner. It is called "sexual health", and any reference to health brings along a positive connotation.
      In reality, the pharmaceutical industry is at work, selling medicines that boost sexual potency and stamina. Impotence caused by ageing, stress, relationship problems, or illness need not, and should not be accepted, when a pill can bring relief in half an hour.
      At the same time sexual ability has been turned into a measure of manliness, alongside honesty, diligence, intelligence, and tenderness. If someone does not know the amount of his stamina, it can be conveniently measured with tests developed by the pharmaceutical industry on many websites and popular magazines.
      The questions have been drawn up in a clever manner, so that few men will get through one without being urged to visit a doctor.
     
Last week there was a television programme showing doctors attending events organised by the pharmaceutical industry, talking about sexual health, and at the same time, promoting potency drugs.
      A concert hall in Lohja was filled with balding men, when the solo performer of the evening was the urologist of a local hospital, and he was sponsored by the second-most popular impotence drug in Finland. The message of the speech, which was quite proper and to the point as such, was not a mystery to anyone, because the impotence cure was presented last.
      The doctor from Lohja said in the programme, that the presentation was drafted in cooperation with the pharmaceutical company. The drug company gave the basic foundations for the transparencies, which the doctor was allowed to modify. The final result had to be approved at the pharmaceutical company before presentation.
      In the same programme there was also a urologist from Mikkeli, who was admirably honest in describing how impotence drugs are prescribed. He says that his youngest patients have been 16 and 17 years old.
      There was nothing wrong with the boys, but lack of experience and uncertainty might cause temporary inability to perform.
     
The doctor prescribed them an impotence drug.
      The doctor says that prescribing the medicine for a young person was acceptable, because with its help, the boys were able to get their sex lives going without having to worry about confronting an embarrassing situation.
      The doctor added that the medicine could be dropped later, when confidence with the partner had reached the stage at which performance pressure would not be a problem.
     
There it is, the core of what is now accepted as a sex life. Men need to be capable, and durable. Who cares if there is any emotion involved, to say nothing of trust and a sense of partnership. There’s plenty of time for that later, once the technical performance is made flawless.
      I don’t envy those who are bringing up children at home or in schools, when a doctor, who is interviewed as an expert, testifies on television that trust has no meaning in beginning a sexual relationship. Talk about how sex is one of the resources of a good couple relationship, alongside emotion and trust, sounds like trivial harping from the past century. Back then people even still used a word like love.
     
There is nothing wrong with impotence medicines as such, if couples want to enjoy and produce sexual enjoyment for each other even when it does not succeed in other ways. Timo Klaukka, a research professor at the Social Insurance Institution (KELA) has appropriately called impotence medicines comfort medicines.
      However, comfort appears to be far away from the kind of sex that a young and healthy man participates in with the support of impotence drugs. Comments written by young women in magazines and on websites reveal how far removed from erotic pleasure the activities of the turbocharged males really are.
     
The partners of the women who fought against sexual objectification 35 years ago are now at the age when they would be the best target group of the marketing of impotence medicines.
      However, for the pharmaceutical industry this was not enough: the sons of these couples have been made targets for marketing with the help of doctors.
      The sale of impotence drugs has grown tremendously in this decade, and there are already three brands of pills on the market. Last year Finns spent nearly EUR 30 million on impotence medicines sold at pharmacies.
      In addition, medicines are brought in from abroad, and are illegally ordered on the Internet.
      The business is booming.
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 29.11.2006


Links:
  About: Women’s History - Bra-Burning Feminists: NOT

MARJUT LINDBERG / Helsingin Sanomat
marjut.lindberg@hs.fi