A Matter of Sexual Confidence: Young Men's Non-Prescription Use of Viagra in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

This paper examines the non-prescription use of the sexual enhancement drug Viagra by young men in Addis Ababa. Data was collected through repeated in-depth interviews with 14 Viagra users - heterosexual men between the ages of 21 and 35 - and focus-group discussions with 21 male and 22 female university students. 

Study participants turned to Viagra to impress lovers, as a 'support mechanism' when feeling weak or tired, to counteract the effects of chewing the stimulant plant khat and to satisfy what they perceived as a psychological 'addiction'. More generally, young men used Viagra to quell anxieties about what they perceived as women's growing expectations about their sexual performance - informed by changing gender relations and sexual expectations, constructions of masculinity that emphasise sexual prowess, and a misreading of women's sexual desires largely fuelled by the emergence of pornography as a new standard for sexual performance. 

While some men gained sexual confidence by using Viagra, others - particularly those who used Viagra regularly - paradoxically experienced feelings of loss of manhood.

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By:  Both R1.

• 1 Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research , University of Amsterdam , Amsterdam , The Netherlands.

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