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So, we're halfway through 2010. But when it comes to advertising about women's sexual needs, it seems we're still living in an episode of "Mad Men."

As reported by The New York Times, Zestra Essential Arousal Oils, a blend of botanical oils and extracts that increase sexual arousal in women, has had a heck of a time getting their ads on TV, radio ... even WebMD.

Meanwhile, ads for Viagra ran during the Super Bowl, and you'd be hard-pressed to find an American who can't recite the alarming side effects of the male-libido-enhancing Cialis or Levitra.

Better yet, Zestra actually works. (Confession: We've tried it.) How it works: by enhancing blood flow to your nether regions so you're more turned on.

But we're not sure America is ready for that. In fact, in our humble opinion, this reluctance to embrace -- or broadcast -- female sexuality is nothing short of our country's dirty little secret.

Don't believe us? Consider the bete noir of the modern-day USA: the fact that your insurance company covers his Viagra, but not your birth control. As one Lemondropper put it, "It kind of makes my head want to explode."

Or check out the cover of Cosmo's September issue. Despite the fact that Eve Ensler has spent half of her life in front of an open mic, it seems we still have a hard time talking about our lady parts in anything other than cutesy euphemisms.

Untamed Va-jay-jays? Not even a magazine that prides itself on being "fun, fearless and female" dares call a vagina by its name.

And what's so scary? It's a body part, folks. One you can point to on anatomy charts. But by refusing to talk about it, we take away women's power. And, in the process, we make it easier for media buyers to turn a blind eye to anything that would enhance our pleasure, not his.


Fact: 42 percent of women experience sexual difficulty at some point in their lives. Only 29 percent of women always orgasm with their partners, according to the Kinsey Institute.

Now the only thing not allowed on TV -- where we have Kardashians spread eagle during bikini waxes, Bachelorettes getting it on in hot tubs and, well, HBO -- is something that might help women fare slightly better in bed.

"When we first came across it, it was quite surprising," Zestra's CEO, Rachel Braun-Scherl, told Lemondrop. "Everyone was talking about how much more comfortable folks are talking about sexuality because of Viagra. What it turned out to be was that they were a lot more comfortable talking about male sexuality."

She and her business partner, Mary Jaensch, found themselves, she says, in the rare position of having "money to spend on advertising, but nobody who would take it."

Most networks just plain refused. Some who run Viagra ads during prime time would only let Zestra rear her racy head between 11 p.m. and 4 a.m. One radio station asked them to remove the words "sex" and "arousal." The sex and relationship section of WebMD, which, the Times reports, "regularly posts advertorials on erectile dysfunction," turned them down cold.

The problem, Braun-Scherl believes, is what we'll call the Viagra Divide: If men aren't turned on in bed, they develop a drug and call it a disease. If women need a little help getting ready, we're literally banned from the airwaves.

"Every woman needs help," says Braun-Scherl. "Women on antidepressants have low libido. Women in menopause have low libido. Women who are stressed -- which is pretty much the world -- have low libidos. It's basically universal, and yet, time and time again, we came up against 'We don't cover your category.'"

"Why is female sexual satisfaction a category you don't cover?" they asked.

Why indeed? The ads -- which feature middle-aged women talking about how they wish they felt more aroused -- are less racy than the average episode of "Desperate Housewives." And maybe that's the problem.

Then again, if women had access to more products like these, maybe we wouldn't be so desperate.

What do you think? Should Zestra be banned from TV? Check out one of the commercials, then tell us, below.