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

• https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/aug/22/sex-offenders-libido-control-drugs-prisons-england-wales">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.”