No, it's not cheating anymore than taking antibiotics is cheating when you have strep.

At some point you hopefully are intimate enough to know what meds your partner is taking. I don't think its a big deal anymore than whatever other pills old people are taking.

It's only an issue if you're both elderly and the lady is one of those ladies who doesn't particularly want a lot of sex, in which case if he's also not that into it any more he shouldn't take Viagra thinking to please her.

Only if it's an Olympic event, or you are up for election to the hall of fame.

It's not "cheating," it's using the wonders of modern medicine to combat an unpleasant and often humiliating medical condition. Men tend to have complex emotions involving their ability to perform sexually, and I think that stigmatizating the use of Viagra is harmful, not helpful.
I also do not think the man is obligated to tell his partner, because it's his own business, and he might be shamed by the need, or worried that the conversation would turn into one of those "don't you find me attractive?" messes.

When my gf and I first started sleeping together (about 48 hrs after we met), it was an extremely stressful time in my life and I decided to get a little help after a disappointing performance (about which she was ridiculously understanding---to this day one of the signs she was a total keeper). I opted not to tell her, and used pharmaceutical assistance for about a month. After that, everything worked out great.

I never gave the ethics of it a second thought, but as far as long term, I assume I would likely tell her knowing that she is okay with it.

"Cheating?"

Whose resources are squandered because a man takes Viagra™?

(Rhetorical... Asking for a friend.)

+1 to MarkD's comment. If you win the Tour de France 7 times while using it, then i expect you to fess up. If not, well, it's no one's business but your own. However, I'd expect most decent partners would have the reaction Kit had.

"you win the Tour de France 7 times while using it, then I expect you to fess up....." If the Tour de France involves activities for which Viagra is a performance-enhancer....sign me up right now! Is this why Ceryl Crow ditched Lance Armstrong?

"OMG Lance! We've done it 437 times and we're only halfway across France!"

Several years ago I was in a relationship with a guy who was experiencing some performance issues. It was during a stressful period time in his life and we were in a new relationship and he filled me in on what was going on. Within a couple of weeks, the pills were no longer needed. Using a little pharmacology is no more cheating than a woman using Spanx or a padded push-up bra to enhance her assets.

Sometimes a guy needs a little help to commit to the moment, that's all.

Boy-yay-yay-yay-yannnnnng.

"However, I'd expect most decent partners would have the reaction Kit had."

@Grey Ghost: The operative word there is "decent", and my experience tells me that is rare these days. Most women, I think, get very butthurt and offended if you can't get/keep it up "for them". If you need anything besides HER then she isn't "special", you're not a worthy male, etc, etc, and very quickly become unattractive and undesirable.

1. Viagra should be provided free under Obamacare /s
2. I do think a person that intends to have long term sexual relationship with somebody should disclose they have a difficulty that may affect their long term sexual relationship.

Live, from Daytona Beach! It's the 202,087th Annual Spermatazoa Slamdown!

I would consider a man using Viagra, because he wants to please me, as a compliment, not an insult.

OTOH, the most insulting experience I have ever had was with a good friend, who got a visible erection, EVERY SINGLE TIME I went anywhere in the car with him, but was apparently too shy to ever make any moves.

I banged my head against the wall for months over that one...

I don't see what's unethical about taking Viagra. If a man is having a /fling/, it's none of his partner's business. If he's in a serious relationship, he should disclose it. You should know what medication your significant other is on and why. Hiding it can lead to trouble like her finding the bottle and feeling deceived, or hard-to-explain situations like he gets prescribed heart medication, can no longer take Viagra, and his performance "inexplicably" suffers.

Telling your partner may require a painful conversation--just like if you're taking an antidepressant ("No, it's not because YOU don't make me happy")--but erectile dysfunction is diagnosed independent of one's partner, and that should be made clear.

By the way, women are still sometimes given Viagra to help counteract the effects of libido-sapping medications.

Taking Viagra isn't cheating, but he really should tell her if they're in a long-term relationship. If it stops working or he needs to come off of it, that's going to impact their sexual relationship in the future. For more casual relationships, who cares?

who got a visible erection, EVERY SINGLE TIME I went anywhere in the car with him, but was apparently too shy to ever make any moves.

Only in the car? Maybe he just had a massaging driver seat.

Well dee nile, it was occasionally visible other times as well, but the jeans hid it better when he was standing up. :-)

I think my husband tried a sample his doctor game him, one time without telling me...boy could I tell the diff! It was painful. If it's like that I don't think you could lie about it anyway.

Nobody has even tried to put into words what anyone might have been cheated OF.

People understand that boners themselves aren't intended to flatter anyone... Not the partner and not the bearer.

And if you've ever had a bear of a boner....

Analogous sexually reversed questions:

1. Is it "cheating" (seriously, I don't get how he comes up with THAT word) for a woman to use the pill as a performance destroyer?

2. Is she obligated to tell him?

Easy (I hope) ethical follow-up:

3. If so, is she required to tell him the truth?

-Jut

If it's cheating for a man to take Viagra, then I guess it's cheating if a woman who tends to be on the dry side lubes up for the performance.

I think whether or not he tells his partner(s) depends on how serious the relationship is. I would want to know if my serious partner took it, for the same reasons mentioned by other commenters. Needing viagra doesn't make me feel undesireable. I've known men long enough to understand that they generally WANT to rock their partner's world in the bedroom.

The thing about any of the big three med is that it does not make a guy hard. It just makes it easier for him to get hard.

He still has to have the will. If she is 5'6" and weighs 250 pounds and is a fat slob -- if he isn't attracted to it, it won't really help.

The same thing as having a gun. If the sight picture sucks, he probably won't want to fire.

There are some drugs that will do a guy up regardless of thoughts. But the big three aren't it.

Isab, why was it insulting? Maybe if he was a friend, he didn't want to risk the friendship by confessing to the attraction that led to the, uh, reaction. (You don't mention whether or not you ever told him you were interested, if in fact you were.) The organ reacts how it reacts, and it rarely listens to the voice of moderation coming from the other brain. ;)

bkman says, "Most women, I think, get very butthurt and offended if you can't get/keep it up 'for them'." I don't know about "most," as I've been out of the dating scene for a quarter-century now, but it seems to me that it'd be tough to be too badly butthurt by a man who can't get it up. IOW, "I don't think that word means what you think it means." Offended, yes; an attitude which would immediately lead me to suspect that I was dating someone who was more interested in mirror-gazing than in me.