One of their major criticisms is that the study left out women with physical or mental health problems - other than lower testosterone levels - that could affect their sex drives, and included women who self-reported "low sexual desire causing distress." The doctors at the DTB had this to say about that:

In some instances women reported having sex up to three times a month before the trials - raising questions over whether they had a poor sex drive at all from the outset.

Right. Well, as we all know, women only have sex when they really, really want to, so the incidence of intercourse and the incidence of libidinous urges leading to intercourse is obviously a 1-to-1 correlation. Furthermore, as a drug designed to treat diminished sexual desire in post-menopausal women, if the women want to have sex three times a month, that's plenty good enough for all women, so they should just shut up about what sex addicts they used to be and enjoy "normal" sexual desire, am I right?

I mean, normal sexual desire is normal for the person experiencing it. So, for some people — men and women — they might be totally cool with three times a month. Other people have the urge to bump uglies once or twice a day. Some people might really only want it a few times a year, or even not at all, based on their individual libidos. For a woman who was once a once-a-day sexing kind of person, to hit menopause and find herself wanting it less than once a week probably does cause distress, in the same way that a woman who only ever wanted it once a week and finds herself craving it once a day might wonder what is happening to her. The idea that there's no way that a woman who has sex three times a month — even if one assumes a 1-to-1 correlation between intercourse and the desire to have intercourse — could be suffering from a lack of sexual desire is a pretty sexist way to view healthy female sexuality.

Furthermore, the doctors at the DTB criticized the patch's relatively high placebo effect, in which women who got a fake patch still found themselves wanting sex more. Yes, how terrible to discover that some component of libido is based in one's head and that, expecting that they would want sex more, women found themselves wanting sex more. And, really, when the side effects are (ironically) headaches, skin irritation, hair loss and gain, weight gain and zits, a woman wouldn't want to risk those just to feel sexually normal to herself again, especially if the testosterone isn't replacing lost testosterone. It's not that important to women at all.

I mean, it's not like some men go around popping Viagra and Cialis willy-nilly just to live up to certain expectations and feelings about normal sexual performance or anything. Oh, wait, they do. Well, women are just different, right?

Sex Patch Effectiveness Doubted [BBC]

Earlier: Post-Menopausal Women Can Double Pleasure, Fun With Testosterone Patch

According to the study, before adhering the patch to themselves, the post-menopausal women involved reported 2.5 satisfying sexual episodes a month. After use, women reported an extra 2.1 additional episodes, "a significant increase from the placebo group, which reported, on average, fewer than one extra episodes monthly," Reuters notes. And it's not just sex that improved with the patch: women reported better self-image, desire, orgasm and pleasure. So are there any downsides to this magical patch?

Well it is testosterone, so some of the women reported extra hair growth. However, Melbourne-based Dr. Susan Davis, who led the study, tells Reuters that the extra hair "doesn't seem to be an issue for the women. If it had been, you would have seen much greater withdrawals from the treatment groups." Another potential cause for concern is that breast cancer occurred in four of the 534 women who received the patch, while no women in the 277-person placebo group were diagnosed with the disease. Two of those women had tumors before using the patch, and in any study of that many older women it is likely that breast cancer will develop for some. Nevertheless, doctors are studying a possible link between extra testosterone and cancer.

But overall, both doctors and patients alike are excited about the prospect of a libido patch for ladies. Dr. Davis says she was overwhelmed by volunteers for her "Aphrodite" study, because older women are saying, "I'm too young to start feeling like this. I have a lot of years ahead in my relationship. This is important to me." And guess what? Intrinsa may be even more effective than the little blue pill: "Davis said that with drugs like Pfizer's Viagra, men typically get one extra satisfying episode per month. 'We found women get two. So it at least matches the benefits to men.'" Woohoo!

Testosterone Patches Boost Libido In Older Women [Reuters]

The British have long been known for their crappy dentistry, tasteless food, and small penises. Now — despite the small penises — the Brits may be able to add "great sex" to the mix. Beginning this week, women across the pond will be able to heighten their sexual arousal with a Procter & Gamble-designed patch called Intrinsa, which releases a low-level of testosterone and is being heralded as the "female Viagra". Reports Salon:

At the moment, the patch is only going to be available by prescription for "post-menopausal women with diagnosed sexual problems," says the Mail. (It's not available in the United States; the FDA nixed its request to be fast-tracked in 2004.) But it doesn't take a genius to figure out that, like Viagra before it, Intrinsa could become a "lifestyle drug," bought over the counter and used by people who don't have any medical problems.

Bring it on! Frankly, we're sick of spending upwards of thirty bucks on booze just to get in the mood.

Sex Drive In A Patch? [Salon]