I AM NOT a liberated woman. I wear a bra. I shave my legs, I wear mascara. I set my hair twice a week and have been known to use hairspray. I read Cosmopolitan magazine avidly and join World of Beauty clubs without giving much thought to their sociological significance. I use DippityDo hair-setting gel, Cover Girl medicated makeup, Deep Magic dry skin conditioner, and generally should be a source of great satisfaction to the American manufacturer.

But I have recently learned that to be an "attractive, nice-to-be-with girl" I must cope with a problem newly-publicized in the women's magazines: vaginal odor. According to Warner-Lambert Pharmaceutical Products Co., Youngs Drug Products, Alberto Culyer, Roycemore, Personal Products Co. and several other drug companies, my vagina is very smelly indeed, and I had better do something about it. Each of these companies now manufactures its own variety of a deodorant formulated, in the words of one advertisement, "specifically to help eliminate odor from the external vaginal area. "By the time I finished reading the ads for all the different brands I had begun to seethe, and that is how I came to spend several days deeply involved in feminine hygiene deodorants.

Mr. Melyin Clark is Sales Manager for "Bidette" products made by Youngs Drugs Co., the company that also manufactures such items as Trojan prophylactics and Young Peoples' products for acne. When I asked if I could interview him he replied "Absolutely!" told me the best way to get to his office in Piscataway. New Jersey, and arranged for a company employee to pick me up at the train station.

The modern flat building was filled with typing secretaries. The receptionist led me into Mr. Clark's office "What can we do for you?" asked Mr. Clark, and while I fumbled with the tape recorder began to tell me about "Bidette" Soon he invited Mr. Milton Bryson, marketing director, to join us. Both men, in their late forties, were gentle, friendly and open. Mr. Clark spoke quickly and motioned about the room with his arms; Mr. Bryson sat calmly and punctuated his colleague's remarks with careful, precisely-worded observations. Obviously they didn't think of themselves as manipulators of American women. They considered vaginal odor a real problem and felt their products were essential to good hygiene.

Although "Bidette Deodorant Mist" has been on the market only since February, Youngs Drugs has been making "Bidette Towelettes," washups for the vaginal area, since 1962. They were the first company to make a cloth Towelette, and Mr. Clark is loyal to the original product.

"The towelette both cleans and deodorizes. The other is just a deodorizing agent."

"Which is selling better, the mist or the towelette?" I asked Mr. Clark hesitated.

"I think the spray has taken off-it's unbelievable ... it's fantastic." Mr. Bryson agreed.

There seems to be a receptivity for the spray that wasn't there for the towelette. The towelettes required a lot of education work before women accepted them, because at that time there was nothing of that sort on the market.... It's taken a lot of educational time to have women find out that it really is a much-needed product.... The woman seems to accept the idea of masking much quicker than the towelette which both cleanses and deodorizes.... Women who are on the towelette recognize that they want the complete cleansing, therefore won't settle just for the spray. They might settle for the spray in addition.

"Do you have any theories about why women would rather cover up something than clean?"

"I think it's the convenience and the case of the spray," said Mr. Bryson. But I was looking for deeper motivations.

"Do you think this desire to cover up the odor could be interpreted as some kind of desire to cover up, um," I stumbled, "any sexual feelings or desires?"

Mr. Bryson rephrased my question with more understanding than I presented it with. "What she's saying is that this takes a different form: they're really not trying to mask the odor, they're trying to mask their sexual feelings."

"I think a psychiatrist would have to answer that," and he laughed.

"Do you think the average American housewife is aware of vaginal odor?" I asked.