Researchers measured their reaction (neurologically and hormonally) to erotic videos and faces varying in attractiveness, and found that kisspeptin activates parts of the brain related to arousal and romantic love while it quiets regions related to inner-monologue, guilt, and self-consciousness. What’s more, the women injected with kisspeptin self-reported heightened feelings of sexiness as compared to those who were treated with the placebo.
Now, some doctors are prescribing kisspeptin in conjunction with other peptides for maximal libido and greater intimacy. Dr. Lans says sometimes he mixes kisspeptin with oxytocin, which many of us know as the “love hormone,” but it’s also a peptide. An injection of it “allows for a better and more intense orgasm because as you get closer and closer to climax, the intensity of the connection increases,” Dr. Lans says, adding that he doesn’t think it changes the orgasm itself, but allows for greater intimacy and thus a stronger orgasm. However, an analysis of a study in 2014 that involved administering oxytocin nasal spray to couples, found that it did, in fact, increase the intensity of orgasm (this was more acute in those with penises). Couples (especially those with vaginas) reported higher post-coital relaxation, satisfaction, and empathy.
While kisspeptin seems to stimulate libido and might play a part in boosting orgasms thanks to an enhanced emotional connection, there are other peptides that help with the physical mechanisms of getting intimate. Arousal is slippery (hah) and blurs into the other phases of desire. Usually, folks struggling with arousal have pain or dryness during sex.
To help, Dr. Lans says he likes to prescribe growth hormone peptides, like tesamoroline, ipamorolin, or CJC-1295, which increase the natural production of growth hormone. “Most of the benefits are in energy, body composition, sleep, but it also tends to help with a person’s sexuality,” he says. In short, it delivers some of the benefits of growth hormone, which spikes during puberty then lilts throughout adulthood, without actually taking synthetic growth hormone (which is unsafe as it functions similarly to steroids). More research is needed on why it revs up arousal, but studies indicate it’s because it increases blood flow to the genitals, thus making the clitoris more sensitive.
All of this sounds nice, but consistent, increased desire will likely never be as simple as popping some peptides into your daily routine. Medications to treat female sexual dysfunction have come under scrutiny, with critics saying that the issue is not our biological sexual response, but the cultural understanding of it. Emily Nagoski, PhD, former director of wellness education at Smith College and author of Come As You Are, wrote a 2015 New York Times opinion piece in response to Addyi’s FDA approval. In it, she argues what women need “is not medical treatment, but a thoughtful exploration of what creates desire between them and their partners.” Her point being, medications like Addyi give the impression that if arousal doesn’t hit you like a torpedo (or erection), if your orgasm is stubborn or latent, then your sexual response is broken. These medications could provide an excuse—to the people who take them, to society as a whole—to forgo exploring beyond the bounds of our (heteronormative) sexual bullpen.