Female sexuality: Too risque for primetime?

Why can't an ad for Zestra, a new "arousal oil" for women, get airtime on TV when erectile dysfunction commercials are everywhere?

Zestra, the Viagra for women, seems to be too sexual for prime time television.
(Image credit: YouTube)

The video: An ad for Zestra, an "arousal oil" meant to enhance female sexual interest, claims that women are "starting to talk about something they’ve been feeling for a long time." (Watch below.) But the company is having a hard time getting anyone to listen. Though Viagra advertising is ubiquitous, many networks are refusing to air the Zestra spot, or dumping it in late-night or early-morning time slots, and the chief executive behind Zestra is alleging sexism: "The Cialises of the world are a perfectly acceptable part of conversation in our culture today," Rachel Braun Scherl told The New York Times, "but when it comes to talking about the realities of women’s lives, like menstruation, you always have some woman running in the field in a dress."

The reaction: Given that the ad is "remarkably tame," says Molly Jane Knefel at The Faster Times, particularly compared to ads for male-enhancement drugs, this brouhaha implies that "female sexual satisfaction is so dirty it can only come out during the phone-sex and psychic-hotline time slot." But Zestra is not analgous to erectile-dysfunction drugs, says Tracy Clark-Flory at Salon, since it doesn't treat an actual medical dysfunction. In the end, this is less about sexism and more a sign of "cultural discomfort with non-medicalized sexual issues." Watch the ad:

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us