"Does It Even Work?": 'Female Viagra' for Low Libido with Dr. Glen Spielmans

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In Bed with Science: a Sex Podcast

Leigh Norén | Sex Therapist and Relationship Expert

12 episodes

2 days ago

Sex advice is everywhere - but how much of it is rooted in or science, or reality? I’m Leigh Norén, sex therapist and host of In Bed with Science: a Sex Podcast, where we take findings from the research lab and make them helpful, and actually applicable to your sex life & relationship.

All content for In Bed with Science: a Sex Podcast is the property of Leigh Norén | Sex Therapist and Relationship Expert and is served directly from their servers with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.

"Does It Even Work?": 'Female Viagra' for Low Libido with Dr. Glen Spielmans

In Bed with Science: a Sex Podcast

49 minutes 51 seconds

2 weeks ago

"Does It Even Work?": 'Female Viagra' for Low Libido with Dr. Glen Spielmans

A quick fix for low libido in women - sounds like a dream, right? Even for me as a sex therapist!

In this episode, I talk with researcher Dr. Glen Spielmans about bremelanotide — a medication approved in the US for low sexual desire in women. On paper, it’s designed to target brain receptors linked to desire. But when you look closely at the trials, the story gets a lot more complicated.

We get into:

How the “statistically significant” results in the trials were actually very small, and why that matters for real-life change

What happened when outcome measures were switched after the study was finished — and how that made the drug look more effective than it really was

Why so many participants dropped out, and what those high dropout rates tell us about tolerability and side effects like nausea

How measuring something as complex as desire with just two survey questions misses the bigger picture entirely

And why solutions for low desire rarely come from quick fixes alone, especially when the underlying issues run deeper

The study discussed in this episode is Small Effects, Questionable Outcomes: Bremelanotide for Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder by Spielmans & Ellefson, published in The Journal of Sex Research.

Timestamps:

00:29 Meet Dr. Glenn Spielmans – The Truth-Seeker

01:47 The “Desire Drug”: What Is It Really Supposed to Do?

05:26 How Does This Drug Actually Work? (And Does It?)

08:12 Can You Trust the Science? A Peek Behind the Curtain

12:00 Does It Really Help? The Real-World Results

15:53 Why Did the FDA Approve This?

20:00 Measuring Desire: Why It’s So Much Harder Than You Think

24:21 Is Anyone Actually Using This Drug?

28:01 Controversy, Criticism, and Calling Out the Industry

41:33 A Sex Therapist Take: My Thoughts On What This All Means for You, Free Resources & Where to Get Help

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