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The smearing of Judge Woods
By Joe Conason, Gene Lyons and Murray Waas
How newspaper articles of questionable origin were used by Kenneth Starr to remove a federal jurist in a Whitewater case
(04/22/98)
Salon Exclusive: Starr deputy met with Scaife private investigator
By Murray Waas
Whitewater prosecutor Hickman Ewing did not fully report on meetings with anti-Clinton operative
(04/20/98)
Salon editorial
By David Talbot
The far right's desperate counterattack
(04/17/98)
Starr strikes back
By Jonathan Broder and Murray Waas
Defiantly, the independent counsel bids farewell to Malibu while holding tight to his investigation of the president
(04/17/98)
Scaife investigator targeted CNN reporter
By Murray Waas
Private details about TV correspondent's life ended up in House Committee files
(04/17/98)
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The mainstream press, especially the New York Times (which ran four pieces on Viagra in the week after its approval) has been a consistent booster of this erection industry, gushing over every new treatment -- and the new treatment emphasis. Once impotence was thought to be a psychological problem, the turf of sex therapists and shrinks. Now urologists, backed by the media, say the problem isn't in your head -- it's in the vascular system inside your penis.
This shift has moved the focus from the couple (Masters and Johnson's great insight) to the male organ. Treatment is based on an assumption of pathology. Many erectile-dysfunction specialists don't even do a diagnostic work-up on the patient's penis -- nor did Osterloh recommend one when he spoke on March 27 at Pfizer's press conference announcing Viagra's approval by the FDA. Instead, most urologists give a general physical exam, take a sexual history, then offer the patient drugs. Sure, these medications work, technically speaking, just as a doctor can prescribe a sedative to make an insomniac sleep. But does the fact that the drug works mean the problem is solved?
The answer to that, of course, depends on how you define the "problem." The 1994 Massachusetts Male Aging Study, the survey urologists cite to prove their assertion that impotence is a problem (of varying severity) for half the male population between the ages of 40 and 70, didn't merely ask respondents to rate their erections. It asked, "How satisfied are you with your sex life?" Surveyors created a "mild ED" category (ED = Erectile Dysfunction) for men who have erections, but worry that they're not getting quite as hard, or lasting as long, as they used to. (And how many men over 40, even those who have a regular sex partner, don't worry about that?)
It's only when you count these men that the number of "impotent" men reaches 30 million. Dr. James Barada of Albany, N.Y., a member of the American Urological Association's Treatment Guidelines Committee, is one of a small but growing number of urologists concerned about this "inflation" of the patient pool. "There's a difference between erectile dysfunction, which is a real disease," Barada said, "and erectile dysphoria, which is a vague sense of dissatisfaction. I worry the line is getting blurred."
Of course, the issue of sexual "satisfaction" is important, even if it is of questionable value in determining how many man really suffer from impotence. After all, only a dunderhead would deny that sex for humans -- for better and worse -- is at least as much a psychological process as it is biological. But these truths are of little interest to most urologists. When Brindley dropped his pants in Las Vegas, he did more than give new meaning to the term "scientific presentation." He achieved the first major breakthrough in what Dr. Leonore Tiefer, professor of psychiatry at New York Medical Center, has called "the pursuit of the perfect penis." This penis is impervious to Freudian insights, couples counseling and feminist criticism. It is a sexual tire that can be reinflated at will by drugs, no matter how many times it has gone flat in the past -- or why. The ultimate male fantasy has come true: a penis that's hard on demand. And, best of all, you don't have to talk to your wife, girlfriend or lover -- or, even worse, a shrink -- about your "relationship." The only relationship that matters is the one between you and your dick.
Science has rewired that connection, but the price tag for this new power tool is hidden. Men joke about being sex machines; the reality may not be so funny. When the penis becomes a mere engineering problem, the psychic vault of attitudes and anxieties that make up the "masculine mystique" is at risk of losing something important: its mystery, with consequences for eroticism, manhood and gender relations that the wood salesmen -- and buyers of Pfizer stock -- haven't pondered at all.
With urologists, roughly 99 percent of whom are men, now dominating the discourse on sexual functioning, an important group is rarely heard from -- women. Sure, most women appreciate a firm, hard erection. But a firm, hard erection attached to an inept, insensitive lover is hardly the answer to anyone's problem. Not surprisingly, this is an issue you don't hear addressed at urological conventions.
Even so, nothing is likely to stop the Viagra juggernaut. American men have been reeducated to see aging and the loss of youthful vigor not as a natural process, but as a disease. Sure, life is hard, doctors tell us -- it's supposed to be. And we have the drugs to keep it that way.
SALON | April 23, 1998
David Friedman writes for Esquire, Vogue and other magazines. He is the author of "A Mind of Its Own: A Cultural History of the Penis," to be published by the Free Press.
Have you or anyone you know tried Viagra? Weigh in on this new pill in Table Talk.

T A B L E+T A L K Have you ever not voted in a presidential election? Share your reasons why in the Politics area of Table Talk D A I L Y+Q U O T E Anti-abortion turnips R E C E N T L Y The smearing of Judge Woods By Joe Conason, Gene Lyons and Murray Waas How newspaper articles of questionable origin were used by Kenneth Starr to remove a federal jurist in a Whitewater case (04/22/98) Salon Exclusive: Starr deputy met with Scaife private investigator By Murray Waas Whitewater prosecutor Hickman Ewing did not fully report on meetings with anti-Clinton operative (04/20/98) Salon editorial By David Talbot The far right's desperate counterattack (04/17/98) Starr strikes back By Jonathan Broder and Murray Waas Defiantly, the independent counsel bids farewell to Malibu while holding tight to his investigation of the president (04/17/98) Scaife investigator targeted CNN reporter By Murray Waas Private details about TV correspondent's life ended up in House Committee files (04/17/98) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Browse the Newsreal Archives - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
		A REAL GROWTH STOCK \| PAGE 2 OF 2 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The mainstream press, especially the New York Times (which ran four pieces on Viagra in the week after its approval) has been a consistent booster of this erection industry, gushing over every new treatment -- and the new treatment emphasis. Once impotence was thought to be a psychological problem, the turf of sex therapists and shrinks. Now urologists, backed by the media, say the problem isn't in your head -- it's in the vascular system inside your penis. This shift has moved the focus from the couple (Masters and Johnson's great insight) to the male organ. Treatment is based on an assumption of pathology. Many erectile-dysfunction specialists don't even do a diagnostic work-up on the patient's penis -- nor did Osterloh recommend one when he spoke on March 27 at Pfizer's press conference announcing Viagra's approval by the FDA. Instead, most urologists give a general physical exam, take a sexual history, then offer the patient drugs. Sure, these medications work, technically speaking, just as a doctor can prescribe a sedative to make an insomniac sleep. But does the fact that the drug works mean the problem is solved? The answer to that, of course, depends on how you define the "problem." The 1994 Massachusetts Male Aging Study, the survey urologists cite to prove their assertion that impotence is a problem (of varying severity) for half the male population between the ages of 40 and 70, didn't merely ask respondents to rate their erections. It asked, "How satisfied are you with your sex life?" Surveyors created a "mild ED" category (ED = Erectile Dysfunction) for men who have erections, but worry that they're not getting quite as hard, or lasting as long, as they used to. (And how many men over 40, even those who have a regular sex partner, don't worry about that?) It's only when you count these men that the number of "impotent" men reaches 30 million. Dr. James Barada of Albany, N.Y., a member of the American Urological Association's Treatment Guidelines Committee, is one of a small but growing number of urologists concerned about this "inflation" of the patient pool. "There's a difference between erectile dysfunction, which is a real disease," Barada said, "and erectile dysphoria, which is a vague sense of dissatisfaction. I worry the line is getting blurred." Of course, the issue of sexual "satisfaction" is important, even if it is of questionable value in determining how many man really suffer from impotence. After all, only a dunderhead would deny that sex for humans -- for better and worse -- is at least as much a psychological process as it is biological. But these truths are of little interest to most urologists. When Brindley dropped his pants in Las Vegas, he did more than give new meaning to the term "scientific presentation." He achieved the first major breakthrough in what Dr. Leonore Tiefer, professor of psychiatry at New York Medical Center, has called "the pursuit of the perfect penis." This penis is impervious to Freudian insights, couples counseling and feminist criticism. It is a sexual tire that can be reinflated at will by drugs, no matter how many times it has gone flat in the past -- or why. The ultimate male fantasy has come true: a penis that's hard on demand. And, best of all, you don't have to talk to your wife, girlfriend or lover -- or, even worse, a shrink -- about your "relationship." The only relationship that matters is the one between you and your dick. Science has rewired that connection, but the price tag for this new power tool is hidden. Men joke about being sex machines; the reality may not be so funny. When the penis becomes a mere engineering problem, the psychic vault of attitudes and anxieties that make up the "masculine mystique" is at risk of losing something important: its mystery, with consequences for eroticism, manhood and gender relations that the wood salesmen -- and buyers of Pfizer stock -- haven't pondered at all. With urologists, roughly 99 percent of whom are men, now dominating the discourse on sexual functioning, an important group is rarely heard from -- women. Sure, most women appreciate a firm, hard erection. But a firm, hard erection attached to an inept, insensitive lover is hardly the answer to anyone's problem. Not surprisingly, this is an issue you don't hear addressed at urological conventions. Even so, nothing is likely to stop the Viagra juggernaut. American men have been reeducated to see aging and the loss of youthful vigor not as a natural process, but as a disease. Sure, life is hard, doctors tell us -- it's supposed to be. And we have the drugs to keep it that way. SALON \| April 23, 1998 David Friedman writes for Esquire, Vogue and other magazines. He is the author of "A Mind of Its Own: A Cultural History of the Penis," to be published by the Free Press. Have you or anyone you know tried Viagra? Weigh in on this new pill in Table Talk.