Other skeptics have focused on the fact that disorders of female sexual function

Other skeptics have focused on the fact that disorders of female sexual function are not life-threatening. These critics tend to insist on labeling female sexual dysfunctions as “lifestyle disorders,” equating their importance with, perhaps, a chronic slice in one’s golf swing or having two left feet on the dance floor. From their point of view, the problem, while annoying, is certainly not profound.

Once the label “lifestyle disorder” is attached to a condition, it opens the door to another, more dramatic obstacle on the road to successful approval and marketing of a drug in the near future: the risk/benefit ratio. All drugs bring with them certain benefits and certain risks. There are no “Goldilocks” drugs that are just right and cause everyone to live happily ever after. Drugs with dramatic, even toxic side effects can still have a positive risk/benefit ratio. Chemotherapy is a good example of this. It’s a very powerful drug that has many potentially unpleasant side effects, but it also saves lives that might otherwise be lost to cancer.
by Leonard DeRogatis, Ph.D.

Fertility & Sexual Disorders