Symposium addresses sexual dysfunction among women

NEW YORK Sexual dysfunction often is conceived as a male phenomenon, but it frequently affects women as well, and for a wide variety of reasons.

Such disease states as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and thyroid disease; drugs ranging from NSAID painkillers to narcotics to psychiatric medications; and even such conditions as stress and ADHD can all contribute to sexual dysfunction in women. But female sexual dysfunction often goes unmentioned, even though it may affect up to 50% of women, according to a 2003 Austrian study published in the journal Urology. Yet according to Semprae Labs, 90% of the women affected by female sexual dysfunction are reluctant to talk about it.

“We seem to be very uncomfortable,” Mary Jaensch, CEO of Semprae, said at a symposium for members of the press Thursday morning. The symposium, at New York’s Penn Club, was to promote Zestra essential arousal oils, an over-the-counter topical botanical product designed to stimulate sexual arousal in women. The symposium included such experts as Susan Kellogg, director of sexual medicine at the Pelvic and Sexual Health Institute of Philadelphia, and relationship experts Tamsen Fadal and Matt Titus.

“All women deserve sexual satisfaction,” Kellogg said at the symposium.