THE TOP AMERICAN NEWS STORY OF 1998 was President Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky. The second was Viagra. This "story was summarized this way in an article entitled ''The Pill That Thrills in the San Francisco Chronicle:

Viagra, an innocent looking little blue pill, proved that big things do come in small packages, lifting the spirits of millions of men who suffer from impotence. After its approval in March, the drug also raised a host of ethical questions, ranging from HMOs that wondered whether to pay for it to a 70-year-old New York man whose reignited taste for friskiness made him dump his 63-year-old lover, claiming "It's time for me to be a stud again."

In just two sentences, we see the makings of a cultural phenome-non. We first notice the marketing—a pill designed to look small and in-nocent is packaged with promises of "big things" "lifted spirits" and "thrills." This tiny commodity is linked not only to expansive promises but also to massive networks of potential consumers, "millions of men who suffer from impotence." Viagra is said to raise spirits as well as "a host of ethical questions," including how to define medical necessity and requirements for insurance coverage. Finally, the product is linked to traditional gender stereotypes about suffering men, Viagra "studs," and women who are their victims (i.e., jilted lovers and wives). Clearly, the Clinton affair and the little blue pill not only changed the way peo-ple talked about sexuality but also raised important questions about manhood, quality of life, power, and morality.

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