ABSTRACT

The quest for a Viagra equivalent for women has both reignited concerns over female oppression and rekindled hope for gender equality. Communication about decreased desire in women has come under intense scrutiny, especially in terms of the ways in which it may legitimize one view or the other. We present a systematic review of academic research on public communication about low libido in women and drugs/devices designed to increase it. A total of 1,309 records were screened, with 20 studies identified for final analysis (6 monographs, 11 articles, and 3 book chapters). Existing research found that the empowered frame predominated, according to which women sought to increase their libido of their own accord to enhance their individual sexual pleasure. The handmaid frame was described as somewhat less common; here, women resorted to treatment to save their relationships as they feared that inability to fulfill their “wifely duty” could alienate their partners. Importantly, scholars often reported that the empowered and handmaid frames co-occurred. The rejector frame, which suggested fluctuations in libido were normal and should not be medically treated, was described in existing work as least common. These results seem to suggest that low libido in women was constructed as a problem in need of a solution more often than not. As this may prompt women to think of their bodies as malfunctioning machines, it is possible that the framing of low libido in public communication can exacerbate existing trends toward pathologizing the waning of desire.

摘要

寻求女性的伟哥等效物既重新点燃了对女性压迫的担忧，也重新点燃了对性别平等的希望。关于女性性欲下降的交流受到了严格的审查，尤其是在它可能使一种观点或另一种观点合法化的方式方面。我们对有关女性性欲低下和旨在提高性欲的药物/设备的公共传播学术研究进行了系统回顾。共筛选了 1,309 条记录，确定了 20 项研究用于最终分析（6 部专着、11 篇文章和 3 本书章节）。现有研究发现，赋权框架占主导地位，根据该框架，女性试图提高自己的性欲，以增强她们个人的性快感。使女_框架被描述为不太常见；在这里，女性通过治疗来挽救她们的关系，因为她们担心无法履行“妻子的责任”会疏远她们的伴侣。重要的是，学者们经常报告说，赋权框架和使女框架是同时发生的。拒绝框架表明性欲波动是正常的，不应进行医学治疗，在现有工作中被描述为最不常见。这些结果似乎表明，女性性欲低下往往被认为是一个需要解决的问题。由于这可能会促使女性将她们的身体视为故障机器，因此在公共传播中对性欲低下的框架可能会加剧现有的将欲望减弱病态化的趋势。