Sexual Healing: The Little Pink Pill, Theological Ethics, and Participatory Justice
Joshua Snyder, Ph.D., Assistant Professor Theological Ethics, Laboure College
Women’s sexual health and satisfaction is relegated to the periphery, if addressed at all, in theological discourse on medical ethics. Within the Christian tradition, sex and sexual pleasure has been erroneously type-casted as being sinful. This stigma disproportionately impacts women and their sexual health. The FDA’s landmark decision to approve flibanserin (marketed under the brand name Addyi) for the treatment of hypoactive sexual desire disorder will serve as a case study to explore key ethical issues surrounding women’s sexual health and participatory justice.
This presentation focuses on two sets of ethical considerations. First, it considers the need for a theological retrieval of the good of sexual pleasure. This retrieval will be based in medical and social scientific data that demonstrates the benefits of sexual satisfaction for overall health and wellbeing. Second, the presentation argues that the lack of sexual dysfunction drugs for women is a violation of participatory justice. While flibanersin is not the female equivalent of Viagra, it does offer some women the potential to have more gratifying sexual experiences. In this regard it is a step toward sexual equality between men and women. At the same time, the approval of flibanersin comes with numerous restrictions, perpetuating the notion that a drug for women's sexual health has to be treated in a very special way.
In responding to this year’s theme, this presentation will explore how the disciples of medicine and psychology need to inform a theological ethic of sexual health and satisfaction. In turn, this theological ethic proposes concrete Christian practices for the care and sexual health of women as it liberates sex from its historical association with sin. Lastly, this presentation will outline an erotic theological ethic that understands sexual health and satisfaction as a constitutive human good.
Women’s sexual health and satisfaction is relegated to the periphery, if addressed at all, in theological discourse on medical ethics. Within the Christian tradition, sex and sexual pleasure has been erroneously type-casted as being sinful. This stigma disproportionately impacts women and their sexual health. The FDA’s landmark decision to approve flibanserin (marketed under the brand name Addyi) for the treatment of hypoactive sexual desire disorder will serve as a case study to explore key ethical issues surrounding women’s sexual health and participatory justice.
This presentation focuses on two sets of ethical considerations. First, it considers the need for a theological retrieval of the good of sexual pleasure. This retrieval will be based in medical and social scientific data that demonstrates the benefits of sexual satisfaction for overall health and wellbeing. Second, the presentation argues that the lack of sexual dysfunction drugs for women is a violation of participatory justice. While flibanersin is not the female equivalent of Viagra, it does offer some women the potential to have more gratifying sexual experiences. In this regard it is a step toward sexual equality between men and women. At the same time, the approval of flibanersin comes with numerous restrictions, perpetuating the notion that a drug for women's sexual health has to be treated in a very special way.
In responding to this year’s theme, this presentation will explore how the disciples of medicine and psychology need to inform a theological ethic of sexual health and satisfaction. In turn, this theological ethic proposes concrete Christian practices for the care and sexual health of women as it liberates sex from its historical association with sin. Lastly, this presentation will outline an erotic theological ethic that understands sexual health and satisfaction as a constitutive human good.
