There's a little pink pill to make you feel sexy. Would you take it?

That little blue pill Viagra has been making men randy and ready for 16 years now. But a pink pill to lift female libido has been as elusive as the male contraceptive tablet.

This week, it might actually be closer to approval. After a clever (and rather dodgy) campaign, the US Food and Drug Administration will now reconsider a female desire drug it rejected just a few years ago.

Viagra works by increasing blood flow to the genitals. Some women such as Kim Cattrell, and her alter ego Sex and the City’s Samantha, found it also helps them achieve a higher sex drive and better orgasms.

“It does the same thing for the clitoris as for the penis,” Cattrell said.

But Viagra just doesn’t do it for most women.

Enter the female sex dug Flibanserin, which - recognising that for women sex is less about our genitals and more about desire - works on the brain. It's a pill that has to be taken every day and acts on the chemicals that deal with mood, increasing "excitatory factors for sex" - dopamine and norepinephrine - and decreasing serotonin, which can dampen the sex drive.

Originally developed as an anti-depressant, the drug company Sprout says the drug boosts sexual desire, reduces stress and increases "sexually satisfying events" for women with hypoactive sexual desire disorder - a lack of sexual appetite that causes stress.

Experiments have shown the so-called 'pink viagra' increased sexual activity among participants.

But only by once a month.

Yes, a pill every day for one more root a month. The FDA was cautious about the maths and the pill's side affects, which include fatigue and sleepiness, nausea and dizziness. There are also concerns it will interfere with the helpful action of Zoloft, Prozac or other SSRI antidepressants, which many women take for depression and anxiety.

As Debrief Daily founder Mia Freedman said on ABC TV's The Drum "what’s the point of being unhappy to be horny?". She also questioned if this was really about dysfunction - or the fact that we just tired.

The campaign - which you can see explained above on The Drum - co-opts feminism to push for the pill. It's very clever and uses  organisations such as eventhescore.org to accuse the FDA of sexism and fear of female sexuality. There are also  petitions, hashtags and the lobbying of female members of congress to support the medication.

In previous hearings by the FDA, the drug company paid the travel costs of women with sexual dysfunction to get rowdy in their fight for their right to get the little pink pill. Women will again be invited to speak in June and the authority is anticipating so many could show up it might need a lottery system to declare the podium.

It also produced this ad, which mocks the Viagra ad to claim the pink pill of desire as a feminist right.  The drug company is, of course, backing the campaign all the way, financially and organisationally.

Now I’ve no doubt some men in power are afraid of female sexuality but in this hyper-sexualised commercial world I'm more cynical about drug companies appropriating feminism than men in white coats trying to control my libido.  Many sexologists and advocates of women’s sexual rights have been rather horrified by the campaign's use and abuse of the language of equality to pressure the FDA to approve a potential billion-dollar business.

Not approving the drug may not be sexism, it may be safety. And exploiting female fear of low desire and their insecurity about their sexuality to make money is probably more sexist than men in white coats doing science. Sex sells, so I'm suspicious when someone wants to make money out of me being a hornbag.

Most sexologists believe low sexual desire in women typically reflects a difference in desire between two partners.

This is the nuanced experience of desire and libido.  A pill can't reduce boredom, shorten the list in our heads, increase feelings of love and affection, diminish our crushing responsibilities in life and make us feel sexy.

If you'd like to hear a discussion about all of this and a rather titillating story about how a woman rediscovered her libido after divorce listen to our podcast on iTunes or on soundcloud

And whether you feel it’s a call to feminist arms or a cynical marketing ploy we'd love to know -  would you take a daily pill to increase your libido?

Want more? Try these:

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Couples who’ve been married for 25 years tell: “this is how often we have sex”

How reading the classics can increase your libido.