The Rise of Viagra: How the Little Blue Pill Changed Sex in America (Sociology) Kindle Edition

The subject of the book is, of course, the story of the little blue pill and how it changed sexuality and medicine in the United States. Written by a sociologist, the book looks at the pill and its effects from a sociological standpoint.The author starts the book with a relatively short history of the medicine and the disease process it is designed to cure. This is followed by a look at how this has been received by men and by women. Finally, the author looks at the medical industries attempts to find a drug to "fix" FSD syndrome.The author seems to have a problem with the creation of the drug. Her attitude seems to indicate disgust with the major pharmaceutical houses that are "curing" a disease that the author does not view as a disease, but rather as a social condition. While recreational use of the pill is unwarranted and a problem, the author believes erectile dysfunction is nothing but a fancy name for impotence and that it is a natural part of the aging process. While delving into the history of impotence, and some of the attempted cures along the way, the author misses one big point. Life expectancy 50 years ago was much lower than today, and it wasn't uncommon for men to die in their 50s and 60s. With men living longer, they expect to be able to enjoy relations well past their 50s, which the author sees as a problem.I would say that I agreed with about 50 percent of the content of the book. Her interviews with men certainly didn't reflect my attitudes towards the issue and I doubt they would reflect a majority of men.The writing is scholarly and, at times, difficult to wade through. That makes this a book for those who need to read it or a willing to read through a rather heavy tome. If you are looking for a quick, light book on the subject, this isn't it.

The Rise of Viagra: How the Little Blue Pill Changed Sex in America is a must read. Well written, engaging, and carefully researched, this book illuminates an ever-timely case study of Big Pharma and the commercialization of American medicine and its implications for meaning making, performance, and expectations about gender and sexuality. Employing an impressive multi-method approach, inclusive of interviews with men and women about their attitudes and experiences of Viagra, and even a chapter on the ever-elusive search for a so-called female Viagra, this book is essential reading for anyone interested in learning more about how the medicalization of sexuality informs and even (re) inscribes traditional heterosexual gender roles and norms, reflective of larger cultures and structures of power. This book is a fascinating and informative book for all readers. It is also highly recommended for use in college classrooms. I teach The Rise of Viagra in my sociology, health policy, and women’s and gender studies courses and students continue to love it, and glean so much from it!

A great text on medicalization and an excellent entry point for those interested in learning about how the process influences social norms and our day to day lives.

In this badly done book, Loe argues against the preponderance of her own data to suggest we should be chary of Viagra use for ED when most of her respondents seem to think it's a good thing. I realize that postmodernism allows pasting non-sequiturs on data, but this goes way too far to fit itself into a vulgar feminist framework. There's also evidence of confabulation when ONE man in a focus group thinks Viagra is an aphrodisiac, which it most definitely isn't. I gave a talk on this at a New York Sociological Society meeting. The silly left has been trying to be anti-Viagra for years, but there are no good arguments for opposing it. Most women support it.

This book was Interesting

Good case study of the enormous influence wielded by BigPharma over modern culture. Loe describes how the application of the medical model turns sex into a commodity, with quality measured by speed of erection, efficiency of ejaculation, and ability to perform on demand and in the absence of relational connection. "Normal" is defined more and more narrowly until any variation becomes a "dysfunction," and such dysfunctions take on epidemic proportions. Meanwhile, men feel more and more pressure to attain the unattainable. Just as Prozac is used to medicate modern angst and stress, Viagra is used to relieve men's insecurity in this age of sexual McDonaldization. The irony is that antidepressants reduce sex drive, so men are more in need of Viagra in order to perform at the level of their (and their partners') increasingly high expectations.Loe's section on how BigPharma is extending the Viagra model to "Female Sexual Dysfunction" (FSD) is eye-opening. Look for "FSD" in the upcoming Fifth Edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM V).Also providing food for thought is the growing emphasis on sex as a purely physical act, ego-centered, non-relational and even alienated from others. When I see this focus in the sex offenders I evaluate, I see it as deviant. But according to Loe, it's market-driven and increasingly normative. Interesting.I gave it only 4 stars because the writing is somewhat pedantic and jargon-laden, and you have to wade through lengthy and tedious quotations. I wish she'd had the confidence to write more in her own voice.

I've taught The Rise of Viagra in Intro to Sociology and Sociology of Health and Illness undergraduate courses multiple times. Every time, Dr. Loe's funny, clear writing engages the students, encouraging them to keep turning the pages. They learn so much about the cultural dimensions of medicine from Dr. Loe's research. Reading this book gets them to think about old age, sexuality, and gender as well as the role Big Pharma plays in shaping those norms. Highly recommend.