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Viagra was discovered by accident,
but its impact has been huge.
The search for something
to help men get it up
is as old as history itself.
From eating roasted wolf penis,
to electric shocks,
to silicone implants
inserted into the shaft.
You name it, it's been tried.
But the story of how Viagra
was discovered was quite unexpected.
It's the early 1990s.
A number of men
in a trial for sildenafil -
a drug to treat angina -
report unanticipated side effects.
Erections. Lots of them.
The urban myth -
which happens to be true -
is that the men who had it
refused to return
their unused tablets,
because their sex lives
improved so much.
The first clinical trials
for it as an erection drug
are held in Swansea in 1994.
And it was clear then,
after the first patient,
that we had something special then.
So we had these ordinary,
middle-aged, Swansea men
able to have sex
for the first time in years,
after just taking a tablet.
And four years later,
Viagra - as it's now known -
comes to market.
Before the '90s,
the condition Viagra can treat
was known as "impotence".
Which is not a great word if
you're trying to sell a drug to men,
as it literally means
"lacking in power".
So the marketing team
hones in on a new term,
"erectile dysfunction",
and enlists key figures - including
Brazilian superstar footballer Pele,
and US presidential candidate
Bob Dole -
to open up and normalise
erection difficulties,
particularly for older men.
Viagra, the little blue diamond,
becomes one of
the fastest-selling drugs ever.
Men who'd struggled for years
with their erections,
but had been too afraid
to talk about it,
finally had something
that could help.
Just like erections,
studies into erection difficulties
can vary widely,
and are often unreliable.
One UK study found that
around 8% of men under 44
had had trouble
getting, or keeping, an erection.
Older men are far more likely
to be affected -
the figure rises to 30%
for men aged 65-74.
It's strongly associated
with health conditions,
like cardiovascular disease
and diabetes,
and also depression and life events
such as unemployment
and relationship difficulties.
Some argue Viagra
was as revolutionary
as the introduction
of the contraceptive pill.
But others disagree.
Instead of opening up
discussions around sex,
critics say Viagra has doubled down
on a really narrow idea
of what sex is.
And reinforced
stereotypes about masculinity.
Take the porn industry.
Before Viagra, male actors
would be chosen for their ability
to get hard and stay hard.
They were known as "woodsmen"!
But porn films were more realistic,
and often featured flaccid penises,
too. Because that's the reality.
Viagra turbo-charged all that.
Now it's younger, harder,
more athletic men.
Sex scenes are longer, rougher,
and involve more penetration.
This adds to the expectation
that men's role in sex
is to get hard and perform.
So, many younger men
have performance anxiety.
Stress plays a huge role
in inhibiting erections
so, ironically,
stressing about erections
can make it harder to get hard.
It's actually normal
not to be hard all the time.
And when we talk about hard,
how hard do we mean?
Not all sexual activities
require a rock-hard penis.
And if we really want a hard penis
all the time,
we can buy one
and keep it in a drawer.
If you want to have
a good sex life,
then talking about sex
with your partner,
trying new things
and being comfortable
about what your body can and can't
do, is the best way to get there.
So did Viagra change the world?
Or just double down on how it was?
And just as sildenafil -
to use its clinical name again -
was never originally intended
as a drug to help with hard-ons,
it could have some
other potential uses too.
One small study
found promising evidence
to suggest it could help
with period pain.
But efforts to explore this further
have never been funded.
And early studies suggest
it could potentially be useful
in treating Alzheimer's.
So could Viagra change the world
in a totally different way?
Watch this space.
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