Commentary

Pills and props

IF SEX SELLS, the promise of good sex sells even more.

Today's story about young men taking Viagra shows just how much men are willing to pay for that extra lift, whether they need it or not.

The issue goes deeper than simply wanting an extra edge in bed. It goes to show the young male sees sex. As one man said, with his 'little blue pill' he can keep going for up to three hours.

The objective, then, is the time that he can prolong the act, not necessarily the amount of pleasure his partner receives from his stamina.

Sexual matters are not to be scoffed at. Satisfaction in that area is a very important part of the general well-being; so much so that it is all too often forgotten that it is only a part of happiness and is seen as the be all and end all.

There have been experiments where persons with the same illness have been given tablets, some of them real and some of them not. In many cases, the results were the same, whether the persons were receiving real medication or not, as in their minds they were being treated and hence got better.

It would be interesting to see if some of the young men who take Viagra would react the same way ­ physically ­ if they were given a fake blue pill.

It also points to a shortage in the department that women tend to complain about most ­ foreplay.

A little blue pill cannot solve everything.