Viagra

Does it matter who is experiencing sexual pleasure, or how that pleasure is achieved? Does it matter why individuals are having sex? The example of Viagra, like the example of Prozac earlier this term, offers us a window on these questions. Viagra (or generically sildenafil) was initially invented, mass produced and marketed to amend the failing sexual powers of globally privileged late middle age men of European heritage. But the 'little blue pill' swiftly escaped its diagnostic cage to become a global pharmaceutical success with both licit and illicit users of striking diversity. We will look at this drug across different global contexts to explore what it has to say about the profitability and perils of selling sexual 'health' around the world.

Weekly Questions:

• Why do societies care so much about sex and sexual pleasure?
• What is 'perfect' sex, and for whom?
• What can technologies of sexual performance and sexual pleasure tell us about the intersections between power relations, commerce, and social values?
• Whose pleasure 'matters' (and whose materialises) in (a given) society? Why might the answer to this question look similar even in very different cultures?