Science, medicine and virility surveillance: ‘sexy seniors’ in the pharmaceutical imagination

Abstract

While historically sex has been seen primarily as the prerogative of the young, more recently, the emphasis has been on the maintenance of active sexuality as a marker of successful ageing. A new cultural consensus appears to have emerged which not only emphasises the importance of continued sexual activity across the lifespan, but links sexual function with overall health and encourages increased self-surveillance of, and medical attention to, late-life sexuality. Drawing on historical accounts, clinical research, popular science reporting and health promotion literatures, I explore several key shifts in models of sexual ageing, culminating in the contemporary model of gender, sexuality and ageing that has made ageing populations a key market for biotechnologies aimed at enhancing sexual function. Two central concepts frame my analysis: 'virility surveillance', where age-related changes in sexual function are taken as indicative of decline, and the 'pharmaceutical imagination', where sexual lifecourses are reconstructed as drug effects revise standards of sexual function. After consideration of how narratives emerging from qualitative research with older adults challenge the narrow depiction of sexual functionality promoted by pharmaculture, conclusions call for continued critical inquiry into the biomedical construction of sex and age.

Ovulation monitoring and reproductive heterosex: living the conceptive imperative?

“…Arguably, what can be observed here is sexuality 'on call' (Loe 2001). In her work on Viagra, Loe shows how the on-call penis, which responds when needed, forms part of a 'mythic masculinity' (112) for the men who use this product (see also Marshall 2010). Ovulation technologies claim to provide women and couples with advanced warning of when ovulation will take place, yet in the video no planning is needed as the male partner is ready and waiting for when ovulation takes place.…”

“…Work on sex-related technologies also complicates normative figurations of heterosex as biologically driven and/or romantic. Loe (2004), for example, shows how a male partner's use of Viagra enables women to engage in discussions of their own sexualities and sexual health and to question social institutions such as marriage, medicine, culture and gender roles (see also Marshall 2002Marshall , 2010Potts 2005). As we will show, ovulation monitoring practices similarly lead some women to talk frankly online about reproductive heterosex and to critically reflect on their own sexual practices.…”

From opportunity to obligation: Medicalization of post-menopausal sexuality in Turkey

“…12. Despite the argument that andropause is yet another realm of medicalization where the 'opportunity' has been made into an 'obligation' through testosterone treatments and drugs like Viagra (Marshall, 2010;Watkins, 2013), the popular constructions of andropause in Turkey remain less medicalized (Erol and Ozbay, 2013).…”

“…The literature on medicalization of aging and sex involves critique of a medical approach reducing sexuality into a very narrowly defined 'sexual function' (Marshall, 2010;Tiefer, 2006), carrying 'an implicit message of risk and decline in the absence of intervention' (Marshall, 2011: 398). Another side of the argument is 'healticization' of sex, where sex increasingly becomes a sign of good health, or an activity necessary to stay healthy (Cacchioni, 2007;Gupta, 2011;Tiefer, 2006).…”

Drug Familiarization and Therapeutic Misconception Via Direct-to-Consumer Information

“…Moreover, 40over40 conveys the message that a Bnonoptimal^erectile functionality is pathologic and so needs to be treated. A subtle and indirect performance threshold (i.e., Boptimal^erectile function) is being presented that is linked to popular but scientifically unfounded views of normalcy and aging (Marshall 2010;Jones and Higgs 2010). Specifically, the message is that while younger men are not likely to have problems with their sexual function, men older than 40 can and even should expect to have problems obtaining or maintaining an erection.…”