Pharmaceutical intimacy: Managing female sexuality through Addyi

In August 2015, the US Food and Drug Administration approved the production of Addyi (flibanserin), a pharmaceutical tablet for premenopausal women distressed by a lack of sexual desire. During clinical trials, reports from research participants revealed minimal efficacy: an estimated 0.8 increase in 'satisfying sexual events' per month. This article explores the emergence of Addyi as a case study of how this technique produces a particular subject of pharmaceutical knowledge. It examines the pharmaceutical tablet as a technique for the management of sexual appetite. I consider the significance of the act of pharmaceutical ingestion on the embodied subjectivity of the consumer and the chemical constitution of the human body.