Acessibilidade / Reportar erro

Permanence of gender stereotypes in sexology: when scientific innovations are challenged by traditional gender stereotypes

Major changes have occurred in male and female sexual function/dysfunction research and treatments. Male erectile dysfunction has been re-conceptualized as an organic dysfunction, which marks a dramatic shift from previous conceptions of psychogenic impotence developed during the 60' and the 70's. This shift is based on major scientific discoveries, and pharmacological advances that took place since the early 80's under the influence of North American urologists. The release of sildenafil in 1998 was the corner stone of a new paradigm of treatments focusing on male penile activity, far remote from any psychological approaches. More recently, the same group of urologists started to reconsider Female Sexual Dysfunction using the same organic/biological model of sexual function. New pharmaceutical products are currently under trial for the treatment of this new category of female sexual disorder. But as opposed to the absence of public adverse reaction to the development of this approach of male function, many voices raised to oppose this new conception of female function. A major discussion took place in the British Medical Journal stating that female sexual function was not organically driven, but rather determined by the social, psychological and interpersonal context of female sexual activity and relations. One of the major dimensions of this discussion opposed the so-called "simplicity" of male sexual function to the "complexity" of female sexual function. This paper demonstrates the permanence of traditional social scripts of male and female sexuality and their influence in the most advanced scientific research in this field.

stereotypes; gender; sexuality; pharmacological treatments; sexual medicine


PHYSIS - Revista de Saúde Coletiva Instituto de Medicina Social Hesio Cordeiro - UERJ, Rua São Francisco Xavier, 524 - sala 6013-E- Maracanã. 20550-013 - Rio de Janeiro - RJ - Brasil, Tel.: (21) 2334-0504 - ramal 268, Web: https://www.ims.uerj.br/publicacoes/physis/ - Rio de Janeiro - RJ - Brazil
E-mail: publicacoes@ims.uerj.br