Chemical suppression: why the UK is exploring libido control drugs to treat sex offenders

Treatment is already required by parole boards in several countries, but some feel the practice is unethical

• Thousands of sex offenders in England and Wales could get libido-suppressing drugs

For some prisoners with problematic sexual arousal (PSA), “images of sex flood their minds” all of their waking hours, according to Prof Belinda Winder, a leading forensic psychologist who has evaluated the use of drugs to control libidos.

“I remember talking to one guy a few weeks after he started taking the medication. He said: ‘It’s amazing. I followed a film plot. I wasn’t just looking for when I could see bra straps, when I could see nipples, when someone’s going to bend over so I could see their bum.”