Curing Sexual Desire with the Lust Enhancing Pill for Women: Where Medicine Meets Normality Maaike Hommes Charmaine’s Story They met in college, and the sexual chemistry was amazing. In an interview in Shape Magazine conducted by Kaitlin Menza (2015), which appeared online under the headings of “Lifestyle” and “Sex and Love,” an anonymous woman (whom I will call Charmaine) recounted how she and her husband would have sex multiple times a day, every day of the week. Sex was one of the most wonderful parts of their relationship and a key aspect of Charmaine’s identity. Her sexual energy changed after the birth of her first son. Not only was she too tired after feeding the baby until 3 a.m., but Charmaine also felt no need to have sex again. She tried to make love every two weeks or so but did so more out of obligation than desire. When her husband started to feel more like a co-worker than her lover, she contemplated a divorce. However, in the end, they did not want their marriage to fall apart, and Charmaine started to experiment with herbal supplements, antidepressants, and testosterone injections to help rejuvenate her sexual desire. Sadly, none did the trick. When Charmaine and her husband found out about a series of clinical trials for flibanserin, which was to be a new lust-enhancing drug for women, she did not think there was “a chance in hell this was going to work,” but by this time, she had promised her husband that she would try anything to save the relationship. Upon signing up, she half-expected to be rejected for the trials because her lack of libido had occurred after giving birth to two sons. Charmaine thought “clearly” that was the issue and motherhood had diminished her libido, not her body. However, the doctors in the test trials selected her, and she was diagnosed with Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder (HSDD). After roughly a month on flibanserin, she felt renewed energy. She started running and lost a few pounds. Feeling sexy again, Charmaine then realized that she and her husband had had sex twice in one week. “It might be the drug after all,” Charmaine said, “It wasn't as if I was suddenly horny around the clock. We weren't doing it on the kitchen table or missing work. I just felt like myself again—a woman who enjoys sex and is attracted to her husband. It was normal life.”1 For Charmaine, regaining her desire was regaining normal life: a re-claiming of her identity as a normal woman who is attracted to her husband.
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