Piece Comment

Review of Viagra:


Viagra and other medications that address erectile disfunction are so omnipresent on TV and the internet, and absent on public radio as far as I am aware, that this piece's time may have come. According to the subject of this interview, erectile dysfuction affects 52% of men over 40 to some extent. This suprising statistic makes the barrage of advertisments and emails that we are exposed to daily a little easier to accept. The piece comprises a very indepth interview that covers all apsects of the viagra phenomenom, from diagnosis and prescription, to overuse and abuse, and puts it in the context of heterosexual relations. It clearly deals with the subject matter from a male perspective and oversimplifies the female side of things a little, but nevertheless it is an important issue and this is an informative interview. As for airing, the subject matter is inevitably going to raise a few eyebrows, but it is dealt with in a mature fashion and is not overly graphic, so I wouldn't have any qualms about airing it at any time. I appreciated that the interviewee did not continually plug his book; I find it grating when every answer to a question is prefaced with "well in my book you will find....."!