The field of research in sexual medicine has grown dramatically in the past decade to a point where we now have a substantial armamentarium of pharmacologic and psychological interventions available for the treatment of sexual dysfunctions in men. Concomitantly, numerous new compounds are in advanced stages of clinical development to expand the spectrum of treatment options for women's sexual dysfunctions as well. We believe we have reached a point in our overall research agenda where it may be useful to reappraise certain aspects of our clinical research methodology. We have performed this with a view toward identifying a number of key issues that we believe represent continuing impediments to sustained growth in sexual medicine research, and we have made recommendations concerning implementing tactics and strategies that we believe will help overcome these methodological barriers to continued progress. We do not view the suggestions made here as definitive resolutions to the problems identified, but rather as progressive ideas that will enable our research to continue to move forward.