Libido

Speaking personally, the nicest thing about "The $treet," Fox's new drama about guys being guys on Wall Street, is that it offers reviewers infinite opportunities for cheap wordplay. It's already been called "blue-chip" in one publication, for example, and a "bad investment of time" in another. What it is, actually, is orgasmic, an uneven hour that initially, at least, is less about stocks than sex.

A new medication arriving in pharmacies this month is raising the possibility of widespread hormone replacement therapy for men--much like for post-menopausal women--even as it raises fears about misuse. The product, a gel form of testosterone called AndroGel, is approved for use in men with abnormally low levels of testosterone. Currently, only about 150,000 to 200,000 men are being treated for low testosterone, although the advent of AngroGel could boost that number to 5 million.

A smooth-sailing sex life can be difficult enough to attain when all body parts are in fine working order and one's basic health is good. When that isn't the case--when a woman is dealing with cancer, perhaps, or has a disability such as multiple sclerosis or a spinal-cord injury--problems in the bedroom are compounded. Such women may have special emotional and practical concerns and may need special help from doctors and therapists.

In the first real potential market rival to the blockbuster impotence drug Viagra, a federal advisory panel Monday recommended government approval of a new libido-enhancing drug for men that works on the brain rather than the sex organs. Uprima, like Viagra, produces potentially serious side effects--among them fainting, vomiting, nausea, dizziness and low blood pressure--and likely will come with heavy-duty warnings if and when it reaches the marketplace.

Subset may not have any hits of its own yet, but the unlikely combination of two Seattle forces--rapper Sir Mix-A-Lot and the members of the disbanded alt-rock trio the Presidents of the United States of America--had a strong crowd-pleaser in its arsenal at the House of Blues on Monday: The group produced its strongest performance and enjoyed the biggest response from the crowd near the end of its hourlong set when it delivered a revved-up rock version of Mix-A-Lot's 1992 ode to full-figured

When Cristina Ferrare, former model and co-host of the TV show "Home and Family" lost her mojo, she felt utterly alone. "My husband would initiate sex, and I would say I have a headache," said Ferrare, 49. "He would think it was him . . . that it was something he was doing." Then, a couple of years ago, when a doctor on her show noted that lack of libido could be a symptom of perimenopause, the time of hormonal transition leading to menopause, Ferrare blurted: "That's me."

Dear Readers: Starting this week, the People's Pharmacy column moves to this page and will include more readers' questions on herbal products and other alternative health remedies. Question: I read an article about the loss of libido while taking antidepressants and about a natural remedy for that loss. My husband is currently undergoing treatment for hepatitis C, and, as you can imagine, is depressed and on Paxil.

In what is being billed as the widest gender gap in presidential election history, 54% of women favored Bill Clinton over Bob Dole. Working women gave Clinton an even wider margin: 55%, to 35% for Dole. The reason may have more to do with Clinton's projection of personal power than with his lofty public ideals. Obviously, scandals, missteps and allegations of adultery haven't turned off the female voter.

It is said that Elaine May's million-dollar contribution to the much rewritten script of "Tootsie" was a simple but critical one: Give the lead character a sidekick, she suggested, enabling him/her to have someone to let it all hang out with. In the world of television, the sidekick--specifically the female sidekick--has been a decades-long staple. From Ethel to Rhoda to Maryann, she has been the one to be confided in, confessed to, kibitzed with.