Female Sexual Disorders - Essay Sample

Introduction

The adoption of medication in treating female sexual disorders has made female sexual disorder such as low libido to be classified as a medical dysfunction. The use of medicines in addressing sexual desire challenges represents the perceptions of certain members of the society objectification of female sexualities (Taylor, 2015). Despite the invention of a drug to address the problem of low female libido, there is a lack of agreement on how to quantify low female libido. I chose the topic because it is interesting, and it raises more questions about different factors that affect women sexuality, as well as, how they can effectively be addressed. Feminist scholars have insisted on the need to critically analyze biomedical conceptualization of female sexual desire so that various factors that affect women sexuality can be well understood. As such, it should not involve using men sexuality as a fundamental aspect of sexual normalcy in women. This paper, therefore, looks at the feminist analysis of biomedical conceptualization of female sexuality, which can be understood through understanding the medicalization of female sexuality and the critique of biomedical conceptualization of female sexual Desire.

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Medicalization

Medicine continues to be a crucial factor in social control. The perception of sexual problems just as other biological diseases is what has resulted in the medicalization of sexuality (Cacchioni & Tiefer, 2012). Medicalization of sexuality as a component in the society is because it provides a more straight forward solution to the social-cultural expectations of sexuality. As posited by Zola (1972), the use of medication in overcoming social problems has made issues regarding female sexual challenges to be removal from legal and religious considerations. This suggests reasons for aspects such as biomedical conceptualization of female sexual desire. However, there also critics of the medicalization of sexual dysfunction who claim that it does not address root challenges that are associated with sexuality. Medicalization can be analyzed by looking at various issue regarding the use of medicine in female sexuality.

Medicalization of Female Sexuality

The demerits of sociocultural conceptualization of female sexuality, such as its failure to overcome the challenges of different cultural believe have been solved by the medicalization of female sexuality. However, it has brought up the issue of over-medicalization of sexuality where the opponents argue that there is excessive use medical and surgical treatments in addressing sexual dysfunction whereas there are external issues that might have caused the sexual problem. Feminist scholars have identified different factors such as relationship issues that might result in women's sexual problems and thus, concentrating on medicalization misses the point because of its lack of a wider perspective. For instance, as posited by Wood, Koch, & Mansfield (2006), the approach adopted by clinicians is concentration on a given problem with the view that the other challenges will be overcome. The view of feminist scholars regarding women sexuality has impacted the medicalization of sexuality through the incorporation of other factors such as sexual education, therapy, and public policy.

Moreover, medicines intervene more in women's lives than men, which due to the role that women play in family healthcare. Medicalization has been expanded by the growth of pharmaceutical companies which have continued to major on women sexuality (Mamo & Fosket, 2009). However, scholars continue to criticize the emphasis of biomedical strategies rather than behavioral techniques, which they claim that have various limitations. The argument by feminist scholars is that medicalization of women's sexuality serves the interests of their male counterparts. The attempt to promote women sexuality through medicalization is mainly based on male believes of sexual normalcy. The focus of medicalization has rendered external factors inconsequential in female sexual desire, and as such, medicalization favors pharmaceutical intervention in sexual dysfunction. Generally, medicalization suggests that a challenge such as not wanting sex is a health problem which should be addressed through medication.

Biomedical Conceptualization of Female Sexual Desire

The traditional sexual response models continue being used in researching female sexual desire. Although the models have aided to the ease of identifying a female sexual problem, the models have been critiqued because they fail to fully explain female sexuality. Some of the features of the traditional response model that have faced criticism include; reliance on the male sexuality as the determinant of female sexual normalcy, the linear model approach sexual response and biological reductionism.

Critique of Biomedical Conceptualization of Female Sexual Desire

Men are used as the determinants of female sexuality. Biomedical conceptualization, as perceived under the traditional models, does not effectively differentiate between women and males sexual responses, but they are all perceived as one. Although they were designed to conceptualize male sexual desire, most of them continue to be used in understanding sexual responses for both men and women (Wood, Koch & Mansfield, 2006). Feminist theorists have critiqued the model's lack of impartiality because it perceives women sexual desire by relating them to their male counterparts. The models, especially the linearity model, despite being designed for men, is currently dominant in analyzing female sexual desires.

The traditional models also situate the desire as the reason behind women engagement in sex; however, women engage in sex for different reasons which are not necessarily for sexual desire. The linearity model disregards women feelings by emphasizing on specific actions as the major factors in determining female sexual desire (Wood, Koch, & Mansfield, 2006). Moreover, feminist scholars continue to critique the biological reductionism of sexual desire due to its emphasis on sexual desire as an element that originates from one's body and the perception of the existing differences as a disease. By looking at sexual desire as an internal response, biological reductionism disregards sociocultural factors that might influence a woman's desire to engage in sexual contact (Wood, Koch, & Mansfield, 2006). There are other factors that might influence a woman's desire to have sex, such as, a stressful job, which results in low libido. Therefore, a woman with a low libido might hormones which are fine, but there other factors which might render her sexually inactive which biological reductionism fails to identify. As such, biological reductionism fails to identify the impact of social, cultural factors on female's sexual desire.

Feminists also critique biomedical conceptualization of female sexual desire because it considers sexuality as part of health. This is based on the assumption that there is a difference between unhealthy and healthy sex. However, according to Wood, Koch & Mansfield (2006), feminists who also consider sociocultural conceptualization of sexual desire, sexuality is also dependent on other external factors such as an individual's lifestyle and the cultural dispositions. Although their challenges that are associated with biomedical conceptualization of sexual desire, it continues to be regarded as compared to socio-cultural conceptualization because adopts a detailed approach to sexual desire due to its perception of sex as a healthy natural act. However, critics argue that it continues to be used in the study of sexuality because its biological considerations make it a more reputable field.

Conclusion

Biomedical conceptualization of female medical desire continues to experience criticism from feminist scholars through looking at the biasness in the medicalization of female sexual desire informed by the medicalization of female sexuality. Medicalization of sexuality mainly results from considering sexuality as part of health, which has resulted in the adoption of certain drugs in overcoming sexual problems. Also, the issue of the medicalization of female sexuality has resulted in overmedicalization, where there is excessive use of medical methods in addressing sexual problems. This has also involved the critique of biomedical conceptualization of sexual desire, which mainly major on the faults of traditional sexual response models. First, feminist scholars argue that although the method has aided in the identification of female sexual problems, it fails to fully explain female sexuality. Secondly, there is an emphasis on biological reductionism, which does consider sociocultural factors which also affect women's sexual desire. Lastly, women's sexual normalcy is considered to be dependent on men's sexuality as the standard measure, which limits the extent to which women sexuality is perceived.

The implication of biomedical conceptualization of female sexual desire is that there is a need for a clear definition of sexual desire to help address the different issues that are related to it. Women own perception of sexual desire needs to be considered to avoid scenarios where certain sexual characteristics are classified as either a sexual problem or not. This should involve avoiding the use of men's sexuality as the standard measure for female sexual normalcy.

References

Cacchioni, T., & Tiefer, L., (2012). Why Medicalization? Introduction to the Special Issue on the Medicalization of Sex. Journal of Sex Research, 49(4), 307-310. doi:10.1080/00224499.2012.690112

Mamo, L., & Fosket, J. R., (2009). Scripting the Body: Pharmaceuticals and the (Re)Making of Menstruation. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 34(4), 925-949. doi:10.1086/597191

Taylor, C., (2015). Female Sexual Dysfunction, Feminist Sexology, and the Psychiatry of the Normal. Feminist Studies, 41(2), 259-292. doi:10.15767/feministstudies.41.2.259

Wood, J. M., Koch, P. B., & Mansfield, P. K. (2006). Women's sexual desire: A feminist critique. Journal of Sex Research, 43(3), 236-244.doi:10.1080/00224490609552322

Zola, I. K. (1972). Medicine as an Institution of Social Control. The Sociological Review, 20(4), 487-504. doi:10.1111/j.1467-954x.1972.tb00220.x