“The great question that has never been answered and which I have not yet been able to answer, despite my 30 years of research into the feminine soul, is, ‘What does a woman want?’ “
This was Sigmund Freud’s response in 1925 to a female protégé, Marie Bonaparte, who sought his guidance. Bonaparte, then in her early 40s, suffered in her own words, from “frigidity.”
His question is alive today: Last week, a Food and Drug Administration panel reviewed the efficacy and safety of a new drug to treat hypoactive sexual desire disorder — lack of sexual desire. (The panel did not recommend approval.) I’ll come back to this in a minute.
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