tv America Tonight Al Jazeera June 11, 2015 10:00pm-10:31pm EDT
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he was 91 years old. worth noting that christopher lee, as well died at the age of 93. that's it for this edition of al jazeera news. "america tonight" is next. stay with us. [ ♪♪ ] on "america tonight", an incredible journey, and the images of the artist who led the way. >> migration is a story of people doing for themselves who immigrant groups had done for generations and generations before which was to vote with their feet and make a new life for themselves. "america tonight"s christopher putzel with an epic drama captured by artist jacob
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lawrence, and the residence it has for us today also - is it a miracle in a little pink pill or a marketing ploy to even the score. >> the company is hoping it will be a road to open the way, changing the dialogue saying "excuse me it's not about safety and evocation, it's about fairness" lori jane gliha vets the female viagra and the strange bed fellows behind it. thank you for joining us i'm joie chen. it's one of the biggest money makers for the big pharmaceutical companies, making sense that the little blue pill viagra is highly thought of by its parent, pfizer. you may wonder why a little pink pill is not available to women for their sexual dysfunction.
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a viagra for women is not led by big pharma, the force behind it introduction of this drug is a curious coalition. lori jane gliha votes why. >> i have been silent for a long time on this issue, as far as my own personal problems. >> reporter: carmen is talking publicly about something personal. >> my husband and i have been married 33 years, and i would say for about 30 years of our marriage we were really having difficulty connecting sexually with one another. and the big problem was that i have very low sexual desire. >> reporter: carmen says therapy helped but not enough, and she was diagnosed with hypoactive sexual disorder. >> it affected my ability to be a good mum, i was discouraged
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about this. then she learned that there was nothing to treat it. that may be about to be changed. drug makers claims it enhances a woman's sexual drive by affecting neurotransmitters in the brain. >> shutting down these parts of the brain allow women to focus on sexual experience. >> the libido benefit is a side effect of an antidepressant discovered during clinical trials. since then it's been a race to get it approved. and many women, including sally greenberg say it's about time. >> this is a milestone, it's a break through. we have not seen anything that will be as powerful or as important since the 1960s, when the pill was introduced. >> the drug was rejected twice
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by. f.d.a. because of concerns of side effects. fainting, nausea. actions that have been called sexist. >> i believed there was gender bias in the process. i don't know what else to call fast-tracking viagra for then in six months, and the side effect are dire death, blindness and stroke. and then 17 years later we still don't have a treatment for women. i don't know what else to call it except for gender bias. >> that gender equity argument was conceived in a smoke-filled back room between pharmaceuticals and consultants and p.r. people. and this was after the drug was rejected by the f.d.a. twice. the pink pill has this critic seeing ready. she is is a doctor a
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psychologist and associate professor of new york university. she believes that because of the possibility of losing out on an estimated $2 billion, the drug makers launched a brilliant persuasive marketing ploy, one replacing science with gender politics. >> the company had no choice. they could throw the whole thing away or go to plan b or plan c, whatever this was. whatever this was to change the dialogue and say "excuse me it's not about safety and evocation" women need drugs because me have drugs. that was the theme and a lot of money was thrown at it. >> take a look at the score. a coalition claiming to be the voice of american women, who want help for sexual problems. this pharmaceutical company is a
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cosponsor, it's unclear how much they spent on it. last object a member of that coalition picked up the tab for patients going to an f.d.a. hearing debating the pill. in this email, the group offered to support travel and hotel costs for patients to attend the meeting. the first day is the marching in of the patients they came in a bus, stayed in a fancy hotel and it was a rally. >> reporter: women are being conned in the name of women rights. greenburg says "no way" it was a brilliant idea to put an advocacy campaign coming in together. this needs an advocacy for women's health. i believe the company that brought that forward was doing a
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great service. women have no drug options, men have 26 choices to treat their sexual problems. >> wep have heard and read -- we have heard and read there are 26 drugs for men, true or not true. >> no it's not true. if you look at the table, you see six names highlighted. eight are, in fact for men's sexual dysfunction, and several of those are the same drug with different names. all of the rest of them are testosterone products, which are not approved for men's sexual dysfunction. >> another claim 43% of women suffer sexual dysfunction. it turns out that number from a 1992 survey, that asked women whether they have a sexual problem, but did not ask whether the problem bothered them. the co-owner was accused by the f.d.a. of using misleading
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marketing materials when he ran a different drug company selling testosterone. it found the company erroneously implied it could be used to treat erectile dysfunction. a statement was issued saying: sprout has not been accused of misleading the pub listening. >> i think it's been overpromised. >> this doctor runs a woman's health center. after reviewing the pills data he has doubts. >> when you look at desire desire there was zero improvement in the placebo or the medication. however, when you look at the
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enhancement of the pleasure of the experience that's a nice way to put it. >> there was an improvement. there was an improvement where the placebo was. as far as desire zero. >> the doctor is worried about the side effects for women with other medical conditions. >> a small subset of patients have no problem other than this problem - okay, go ahead and take it. in the real world, if it's approved you have multiple women on multiple drugs with multiple problems taking this. we don't know what the side effects are. in medicine i say be cautious. >> unlike viagra which is taken as needed. the pink pill is a daily dose and could take weeks to kick in. what would the doctor tell his patients. here are the side effects, here are the risks, here are the pros
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and cons. if you want to take it take it. do i think it will work? not as good as you thing. >> a letter supporting the pill was signed by some members of the congress. are all of them wrong, you rite? >> if they said the drug is great, let's approve the drug i say they are wrong. >> reporter: in your eyes the solution to the issues that affect women is what? >> preventing sexual problems through sex education, through relationships that are equal. all kinds of things that can prevent it she recommends therapy, better communication and education for a better time in bed. >> what will you say to those that watch this and say, "no" on the pill. this is going to drive more people to have their services
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and go to therapy. >> i am not drumming up business for me and nigh friends. i'm trying to explain how we are at a moment in the history of emancipation where the opportunities are being hijacked by industries that are really not interested in women's wellbeing. >> carmen doesn't care so much about the politics or the controversy. she just wants the f.d.a. to give her and others choices. >> i would like to ask them to give those women and their doctors an option and help them to be able to make decisions for themselves. the f.d.a. is expected to make a decision by august. until then millions of women are waiting to see if the pink pill will make it to market "america tonight"s lori jane gliha here. okay so everyone calls this the women's viagra, is that what it is? >> no and it actually has
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nothing to do with viagra. the only thing it has in common is it is a pill and has to do with sex. in reality it has to do with issues that are below the belt. mechanical... >> plumbing issues. >> pluming issues for men sexual function. with this pill. it's looking above the neck dealing with chemicals in the brain. this annoys people out there, because it is not anything like the drug viagra. >> after all, women are in the mind. more cerebral as it were. would it be used in the same way that menus viagra and other products like it. >> that's one of the things. viagra is used as needed. this will be used every day, and that presented concerns from some people. how it would interact. if you take birth control, especially because of some of the things that have happened
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the side effects, fainting drowsiness dizziness. they were concerns - there's not a lot of ranch of what could happen. one of the suggestions is you could take the drug before you go to bed. and warn about what would happen if you consume alcohol. when the committee approved to recommend the drug they did so with the idea that there would be a risk management plan that comes with this, not just approving the drug by itself. >> reporter: is it the only drug under consideration. >> this is the only drug considered for women at this time. there's a lot riding on it. >> tens of millions have gone into research. many want a drug for women, but some are concerned if this is not approved. will other companies want to invest the money to look for another woman's drugs. ing it interesting to see what
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happens with the f.d.a. they have until august to make a decision. next learning lessons. how education may be key to stopping sex crimes on campus. later, the great migration, and the artist that brought that incredible journey to a new generation. >> much of what the artist is concerned with is how do you maybe the hard decisions to leave home to leave a place you know, your family nose and go far from home. and hot on the website. flood amnesia. the flows across texas, and whether the communities will move to higher grouped. -- higher ground. on aljazeera.com/americatonight. >> we're here to fully get into the nuances of everything that's going on not just in this country but around the world.
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we fast-forward to stopping sex crimes on campus "america tonight" focused months of tapes on issues as colleges rock -- of attention on issues as colleges fail to stop it. many survivors charge that the damage began with the assaults. this is rebecca - not her real name - a 20-year-old ku sophomore whose world changed last fall when a guy she met on campus raped her. she remembers he happened her
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one red solo cup after another. >> at the party i had at least eight beers, at least and then i had a vodka cocktail and a few shots of just strait vodka as well as it so often does sh the booze took after. alcohol fuels half of all sexual assaults on campus. >> i remember waking up he was kissing me. before i knew it he was trying to have sex with me, and i tried to push him off, but i was so weak because of how intoxicated i was. it obviously was not effective. i told him no and to stop and i couldn't do this she's never seen the complete police report but in it according to rebecca's lawyer who has seen it the attacker admits having sex with her, long after she said no. the university's office of student affairs found him responsible for the assault. to rebecca's surprise he was
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expelled from the dorm but not kicked out of school. a review of campus sex crime says at nearly 130 schools across the nation found victimizers rarely faced expulse, just 10-25% of the time even when the university rules they are culpable in a sex assault, as rebecca's attacker was. fast-forward to what might make a difference. evidence given that training can help. three at a canadian university got the training and their risk was cut from 10 to 5%, compared to students handed pamphlets about sexual assaults. next, the journey of 1,000 miles, the brave steps that led the way and the artist that captured that bold step
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the greatest art often captures the most ordinary struggles, so was the work of a late artist, best known for his depiction of the great migration. 100 years after a staggering 6 million americans began journeys from south to north. "america tonight"s christopher putzel takes a closer look at the mass movement and images from history that carry meaning, even today when i left in september, you know i had one suitcase. just a bunch of girls. i didn't go to sleep.
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>> in 1956 the then 20-year-old ida taylor boarded a train and the goodbye to the only place called home. the family home. in search of opportunity. taylor left a difficult and thankless life on a farm. >> it's work all the time. at the time there was no money. >> at that time it was $4 in change. >> i worked in a navy factory. you had to do 100 a day. making just $40 a week in her first factory job. taylor started a new life. she didn't realise that the journey was part of a large movement. an underpresented story.
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>> it's 6 million black americans moving from the world's south, to the north and west from the years of world war i, up until the 1970s when conditions approved. it's a huge demographic event in the 20th century, something that transformed cities geographies and economies. it's not recognised for having done such. >> leah in an exhibition titled one way ticket marks the centennial. the main feature is the migration. a series captured by the late painter. >> what is the collection? >> this is a group of works made. much of what the work is concerned with is how do you make the hard decision to leave home, to leave a place that you
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have known, to go some place he has known, in pursuit of safety opportunity and dignity and freedom. you have pictures that are scenes of great tenderness and intimacy, and you have scenes as you know of hard-hitting addressed to issues of racial violence and racial injustice. >> the epic series is one of the first attempts to tell the story of mass movement. millions moved to lectures like chicago, pittsburgh and new york. they transformed marathon demographics of those that would change the culture of their new homes. it's been nearly 75 years since acquiring the work which had special significance for the
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museum. >> it was the first works collected for this museum. jacob lawrence played the role a kind of jackie robinson for the art world. >> like so many talented young people he was a child of the great migration, his parents migrated to the north, and his mother moved him to harlem. >> the exhibition was rated in collaboration with the sharman center. this is the director. >> this is a period in the south when segregation in the united states pushed a number of black people out of their community, displacing them because they no longer wanted to spr. >> the great migration is a story of agency. of people doing for themselves
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what immigrant groups had done for generations and generations before, which was to vote with their feet and make a new life for themselves. jacob viewed his individual pieces as part of a larger narrative. he spread out all 60 panels at once laying in one colour at a time. dark first moving to lighter hues. thinking about how every panel would work together. the results are a form of sociological story telling. struggles of the normal people. rather than a story of one ladder in a movement. >> this work is almost 75 years old, and speaks as if it could be speaking to us today. >> i'm literally looking at a piece here and it looks like they'll have incredible
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contacts. >> the caption written is another of the social cos of the migrants leading that at times they did not feel safe. they were arrested on the lightest provocation those issues of labour access. educational opportunity, social and racial justice are very much still with us and unfortunately are irrelevant to young people the 20 somethings the millennials who participated in sit-ins, lie-ins, the black lives matters. and are as relevant today as in 1941. well the uptown streets may be unrecognizable. the last few people are all over the north. like this one in central harlem. for ida, it was a proposal from
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her high school sweetheart bringing her here from philly all those years ago. >> we had the ring now, we took the train back to north carolina for north carolina, for him to ask my father. my father told him only one thing i'm telling you is you take my daughter and marry her, you take her to new york don't leave her through if you can't bring her there. bring her back. >> 60 years later, her husband kept his promise, taylor said she never regretted the day she brought her one-way ticket of. >> no, no no, i don't miss the farm. you know what i miss it - i'm enjoying life now. i'm enjoying life. a great migration to home. that's "america tonight". tell us what you think at
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aljazeera.com/americatonight. talk to us on twitter or facebook, and come back. we'll have more of "america tonight" tomorrow. i'm "ali velshi on target" - the cost of free trade, the white house wants to fast-track a treaty that many call a raw deal. plus, turning garbage into cold. today's tech is tomorrow's trash. that means big profits for many tech companies a global trade deal with a completely boring name but huge economic
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