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Sex is just a natural part of life

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Through framing sex as natural, Viagra further positions itself as a natural part of life because it allows men to engage in sex once again. Viagra is marketed as a coupled medicine, a “relational technology”. (1) It is not for men struggling with erectile dysfunction alone, but “is going to be used during sexual activity with somebody” else. (2) Couples use it to reconnect and be intimate once again. That is why a heterosexual couple or a woman talking about “her man” is often shown in Viagra advertisements. The marketing of Viagra as a coupled medicine to be used for sex further “[establishes] a link between nature and technology” where “through these drugs, users will return to a natural state of sexual intimacy.” (3) Since Viagra only works when a man is already aroused and not just when he takes the pill, it allows him to engage in sex as a spontaneous and intimate connection between partners, occurring when the mood strikes, instead of being scheduled and procedural. This association of “sex with a spontaneous feeling is thus a discursive strategy that constructs sex as natural”. Since Viagra allows men to take part in the natural act of sex, it must be a natural part of life itself, and “the use of technology becomes the natural act.” (4) Furthermore, Viagra becomes “as more natural than natural” because it allows men’s bodies to function normally, as they should, unlike how they operated before Viagra. (5) Viagra is now just part of the natural process of sex and intimacy. Resultantly, men using Viagra to treat erectile dysfunction are no longer seen as patients struggling with a disease and, thus, they are rarely given a face in Viagra advertisements. It is not about their struggle with erectile dysfunction, their bodies not functioning properly. Rather, Viagra is a silent assistant, a part of life so that couples can reconnect, so that a man can be intimate with his woman just as nature intended.

Footnotes:

1)Mamo and Fishman, “Potency in All the Right Places”, 27

2)Ibid, 27.

3)Wienke, “Sex the Natural Way”, (54).

4)Ibid, (56)

5)Ibid, (56)

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Source: Viagra. “Viagra TV Commercials.” ISpot.tv, www.ispot.tv/brands/dWk/viagra.

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