Sexology and the Pharmaceutical Industry: The Threat of Co-optation

Journal of Sex Research,  August, 2000  by Leonore Tiefer

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We must recognize that part of the public appeal of the urologist-pharmaceutical industry model of sexuality is that bypassing sexual psychology holds out the hope of simple solutions and uses medical model language to relieve people of responsibility for their problems (Tiefer, 1986). But, people often suspect that this simplification is a trick, and I have found that presenting the complexity of sexuality in humanistic language resonates with people's wishes and romantic experiences, and engages their affect and imagination in ways that can overcome the appeal of reductionism.

Professional Education and Regulation

We have entered a new era of research ethics (Schaffner, 1992). Integrity guidelines have been established in many areas of funded research that can help researchers and funders alike (Bradley, 1995). These will continue to evolve as new questions are raised about conflicts of interest, academic publishing pressures, academic entrepreneurship, needs for disclosure, and so forth (Hersen & Miller, 1992). Sex researchers, newcomers in the world of commercial funding opportunities, need ethical and historical education about academic and scientific standards. Industry support of conferences and educational materials must be limited, as it seems that despite the language of "unrestricted educational grants," pharmaceutical representatives now attend sexuality conferences they sponsor and can intrude on participants' collegial experiences.(6)

Sexologists can play an important role in educating physicians about a role for the new sexuopharmaceuticals in the context of a more complex understanding of sexuality, although pharmaceutical industry sponsorship of such educational presentations would be problematic. Psychobiosocial sexuality research can be published in primary care journals along with lists of resource materials for physicians. Sexologists can develop consultation services to primary care physicians and committees to review sexuopharmaceutical advertisements. Professional sexuality research organizations can join the legion of scientific research organizations in developing, disseminating, and enforcing standards of responsible research conduct (Frankel, 1993).

CONCLUSION

With the advent of sexuopharmaceutical drugs and their tremendous public and commercial interest, sexology has entered a new era. I started by saying that this paper was an essay on family values, insofar as I see the professional and academic family of sexology threatened by commercial co-optation. Of course, this isn't the first time, nor will it be the last, that a family's values are threatened by the temptations of money. Either sexologists respond to the new ethical and methodological challenges by defending and promoting their own professional expertise, theoretical insights, and independent goals, or they will be co-opted by the powerful engine of commercialization. Collaborative research is possible, but only with equal attention to values based in the sexological paradigm. If sexology loses its independent status, the public will have even fewer places to turn for sexual enlightenment free from commercial or political bias.