"You want to try WHAT?" asked my significant other, with a distinct lack of enthusiasm for the erotic experiment I had just proposed.

Okay, so things weren't exactly off to an amorous start. Still, I understood why my loved one was a bit taken aback. The innovation I'd mentioned was a topical drug, as yet in the research stage, containing pulverized Viagra, the wildly popular impotence treatment. This form of Viagra, however, was designed with my pleasure in mind, not his, and it represents a trend. The medical world has suddenly awakened to the potentially lucrative market for meeting women's sexual needs; Viagra cream is one of several products now in the pipeline. Earlier this year, Michael Wysor, M.D., the developer of a similar kind of cream, also in the experimental stages, told The New York Times that rubbing his product on the clitoris could induce multiple orgasms, 'basically eliminating the need for foreplay."

So when Redbook asked me to check out this phenomenon - obviously one of global significance - my curiosity was piqued. And now here was my bedmate grumpily suggesting he didn't want foreplay eliminated from our repertoire. But in the spirit of scientific inquiry, he was persuaded to help test the new Viagra product and another similar cream; six couples from around the country also volunteered to try them. Motivations varied: Some women, myself included, were basically satisfied with our sex lives but curious to see if Viagra cream would give us effortless multiorgasmic bliss. One woman found it hard to have orgasms through intercourse alone. Two had more serious concerns: Psychological or physical problems had wreaked havoc on their sex lives, and they feared the potential relationship fallout……………………

At this stage, though, the fate of a specific drug matters less than that researchers have had a stunning revelation: Women's sexual pleasure deserves as much study as men's! "It's been a long time in coming, and this is just the beginning," says Laura Berman, Ph,D., co-director of Women's Sexual Health Clinic at the Boston University Medical Center. "In the next few years, all kinds of options will become available; until they go through formal trials, each one needs to be taken with a grain of salt. But it's encouraging and exciting. It's wonderful that women are getting the means to reach their full sexual potential."