Viagra may soon be available over the counter:
Pfizer Inc. said yesterday that it was considering an over-the-counter form of its Viagra anti-impotence drug, which is competing with the longer-acting Cialis by Eli Lilly.
It was the first time Pfizer disclosed interest in an over-the-counter form of Viagra, a company spokeswoman said.
Over-the-counter drugs typically sell for less than prescription medicines and often come in limited-dosage strengths. Before approving an over-the-counter product, regulators consider whether patients can safely treat themselves without benefit of a doctor’s advice.
Surely, there will be a great hue and cry over this from Christian groups outraged that a drug that promotes promiscuity will be available to anyone who asks? Surely, OTC approval will be slowed by moralists in the FDA who want more time to study the issue, out of concern that teenagers might be taking it and getting the idea that having sex is okay? Surely, even if the application is approved after years of footdragging by the FDA and only because certain members of Congress play hardball with nominations — surely, it will be available only to men over 18? Surely, even if it is approved for use by men over 18, they will have to prove to the satisfaction of the pharmacist that they are married because in the pharmacist’s personal belief system, sex outside marriage is sinful and the pharmacist cannot participate in another’s sin? Surely, there will be endless handwringing and breastbeating about the loose morals of boys today?
Surely you jest.
(via)
No, no, zuzu.
You seem to forget. As a man, it’s okay for me to have an erect penis whenever I want one, and to sleep with as many different women as possible. In fact, it’s more than just “okay.” It’s practically my duty.
Women should making themselves available for baby-making, not doing things to prevent me from passing on my genetic legacy.
/sarcasm
They’re going to sell a drug that’s been associated with blindness OTC?
Hey….this could bring the codpiece back into style.
Viagra promotes Sperm Magic. Therefore, it is as pro-life as you can get.
In the paper today, they said it was unlikely that it would go OTC – what with the blindness and the 4 hour erections that are possible side effects.
Keeping in line with the outrage, has there ever been a pharmacist who refused to give out Viagra to unmarried men?
I think the Pfizer people are suffering from Stock Price Plunge Derangement Syndrome.
Maybe there’s a pill for that?
See you have it all wrong. When young or single men can’t get it up it’s because they’re surrounded by screechy ball-busting feminists that make them feel ashamed to be men. They don’t need pills, they just need to put those uppity women back in their place. The only people who need pills are monogamously married men who have the right to sex on demand. Or something like that.
[...] — Jeff Fecke @ 1:14 pm
Why is it that I have a feeling this plan [...]
what with the blindness and the 4 hour erections that are possible side effects.
It’s that last one that always got me. Four hours is just too damn long for that to be going on. Yoinks.
So by all means, let’s put it OTC and start giving it away. Besides, we all know the pill prevents pregnancy, while lack of Viagra can prevent sex. Clearly, it’s Viagra that’s the more important of the two.
wow- i can’t believe my (catholic) employer’s health care plan won’t cover the pill, but viagra is seen as an all-access blessing from the Lord.
It’s not sex outside marriage that needs to be prevented (that would be nearly impossible), it’s unpunished sex outside marriage. Because the real point is not to keep people from doing the wrong thing, but to ensure that they suffer for it. Viagra only makes it easier for a man to engange in fornication. Things like birth control pills and condoms and HPV vaccines make it easier for people to engage in fornication without bad results. And it’s so much harder to shame them when you can’t wave a piece of paper saying they’re pregnant or infected with something and shout, “You brought this on yourself, you whore!”
I wonder how they’d react to a male birth control pill, or a vaccine against HIV? What do you bet there’d be the same lecture about how seeing that kids don’t get HIV infections is “promoting promiscuity”?
I was with a group of people over holidays who, while “family” are thank god not related to me by blood – anyway somehow the subject of Viagra came up and more than one of them had stories about so-and-so who took some Viagra and after 2, 3, or 4 hours the woman he was fucking was begging him to stop.
It honestly had never occurred to me that anyone would fuck someone for multiple hours at a time, even if it were physically possible. Now apparently it is and apparently someone does.
My non-family all seemed to think this was hilarious and awesome.
Viagra is not inherently frivolous, though. It’s how patriarchal idiots use it and think about it that makes it a problem.
Seriously, though, blindness.
Yeesh, human. Do you use that handle to distinguish yourself from your in-laws (or whoever they are)?
As an aside, the seriousness of the 4-hour + erection that one may get from taking Viagra goes beyond wearing oneself out and making one’s partner very sore (which is not to say those aren’t already good enough reasons).
An erection that lasts for that long is called “priaprism” and if not dealt with, it can lead to some very nasty consequences, such as blood clotting in the penis, loss of ability to have an erection (even with Viagra), and in very serious cases, gangrene.
Plus it can be very painful, so having sex will likely not be on a man’s mind if he’s experiencing this. As “funny” as it may sound, priaprism is a medical emergency.
*grin* Well, I hadn’t thought of that, but I suppose it can be a multi-purpose handle!
4 hour erections, ok, I believe that’s a side effect. 4 hours of sex? mmmm, I’m having trouble. I suspect exaggeration.
the thing that pissed me off when I read this story in the news is that oral contraceptives have been around for how many years now and are still not OTC. you can make all the same bullshit rationalizations about needing to be under a doctor’s care for Viagra that you can for OC.
I’ve never heard of anyone handing out morning after pills at a party, but (especially when lots of other, dick-deflating drugs are involved) some partiers treat Viagra like it’s candy…which is just icky, but moving on. Known abuse seems like a much better reason to stop a drug from going OTC than, say, hypothetical implications.
I don’t think that “boys” need to use viagra.
Viagra is for people with no imagination.
Seriously, OTC viagra is a bad idea. Viagra can be deadly for people with heart disease or people taking a number of relatively common prescription medications. Keep this one scrip only.
When I was very young and had no confidence, I was seeing a guy with whom I had four hours of sex. It was painful, but at that point I was just hoping it would end soon and didn’t have the huevos to stand up for myself.
Turns out he’d put the condom on inside out so he had no friction.
Turns out he’d put the condom on inside out so he had no friction.
Whoops.
On the other hand, codpieces and merkins aren’t a bad style option. I vote yes.
I had a few older boyfriends in the early 90s who’d never worn a condom until they met me. One had been married during the period when people realized that hets could get AIDS.
My university was actually way ahead of the curve on AIDS education and condom-pushing, so long before I’d ever had sex, I knew that I should absolutely insist on condoms. So while I had a hard time telling this guy that I wanted to stop because things were hurting and it was no fun anymore, I had no problem telling him that nothing at all was going to happen unless he wore a condom. The mistake was in letting him put it on himself.
BTW, that whole encounter was in a no-tell motel (at my insistence), a little bit of the Poconos on the Berlin Turnpike called the Grantmoor. I’d always been curious about the place, and I have to say that the shag carpeting EVERYWHERE, the waterbed and the mirrors on the ceiling lived up (down?) to my expectations.
If women aren’t supposed to be having sex, with whom exactly am I supposed to be having the sex for which I would need the Viagra?
Why, your lawfully wedded wife, of course.
When I have sex it’s usually for at least 2 hours, and often goes to 4. My bf doesn’t use Viagra. And i certainly am not begging him to stop.
You need Viagra if you are in a properly sexless marriage for the times when you have to produce another soldier for the Fatherland.
If women aren’t supposed to be having sex, with whom exactly am I supposed to be having the sex for which I would need the Viagra?
Women aren’t supposed to be having sex, but they’re supposed to be passively submitting to sex any time their man demands it. I think it comes down to whether they enjoy it or not.
Viagra:teenagers::ass-flavored tictacs:people with bad breath.
Well, Viagra, or war with Iran. Either one will do the job in a pinch.
My guess is that you’re counting all the foreplay, etc., as sex, while what I think human is referring to is actual intercourse (penetration and friction and not the other fun stuff). The husband and I can go for quite a while, but I count everything we do as ‘sex’, not just the intermittent ‘intercourse’ bits. I certainly couldn’t handle that for upwards of 2-3 hours, I doubt if I could even handle 1 hour of it before getting very irritated and sore.
My boyfriend and i always get a kick out of the commercials for drugs like these, especially the ones for “natural male enhancement”…the exact name of the pill escapes me at the moment, but it’s the with that guy “Bob” that looks like it takes place in the 50′s (you back when women KNEW their place) and where the camera pans in on the “happy Mrs. at home”
You’re thinking of enzyte. Some time ago, CNN had this unintentionally (I think) hilarious commercial lineup. There was the enzyte commercial, immediately followed by, “CNN. Sponsored by Miracle Gro.” No, really. This actually happened. :)
We had a keg party there during college. A guy who was stood up by his married girlfriend crashed the party. Good times, good times.
Bwah! I knew you knew about the Grantmoor.
We had shag carpeting that matched the shag carpeting on the platform waterbed that matched the bedspread.
Plus mirrors on the ceiling.
And pink champagne on ice?
I will never stop missing the BT and its endless adventures. I’ve known a couple people who have worked at hotels there, and they have some amazing stories.
There’s also a great song by The Lilys about the Berlin Turnpike, the title escapes me at the moment.
Oh, you must find the song. I can’t believe it’s been memorialized.
Well, hurrah for the internet ….
The song’s called “Dimes Make Dollars” on their album 3-Way. It was recorded in Hartford, which would explain the facination with the BT. The opening line is “it’s 2273 on the Berlin TP, Newington, CT”, which is apparently the Hi-View Motel.
You can imagine I freaked out when I heard Newington mentioned in a song. It’s never made me want to sing.
And if there’s an Olympia Diner reference in there, I’d be really happy.
olympia diner.
HA!
Sadly no Olympia Diner ref, or Bowl-a-rama- for that matter.
Yeah, I guess I don’t think of sex as scrictly PIV. And I don’t restrict non PIV stuff to just “foreplay”. I guess I can probably only handle about an hour or two of PIV – and not straight through, either.