To many experts, this trend was inevitable. They consider it simply a sign of our times. Our society has ``emancipated'' the woman, giving her new independence and new authority. It is only natural that she assert herself in the sexual role.

``The sexual relationship does not exist in a vacuum,'' declares Dr. Mary Steichen Calderone, medical director of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and author of the recent book, Release From Sexual Tensions. ``It reflects what is going on in other areas of the marriage and in society itself. A world in which wives have taken a more active role is likely to produce sexual relationships in which wives are more self-assertive, too.''

Yet many psychologists and marriage counselors agree that domination of the sex relationship by one partner or the other can be unhealthy and even dangerous. It can, in fact, wreck a marriage.

When a husband is sexually selfish and heedless of his wife's desires, she is cheated of the fulfillment and pleasure nature intended for her. And she begins to regard him as savage, bestial and unworthy.

On the other hand, wifely supremacy demeans the husband, saps his self-respect, and robs him of his masculinity. He is a target of ridicule to his wife, and often -- since private affairs rarely remain private -- to the outside world as well.

``A marriage can survive almost any kind of stress except an open and direct challenge to the husband's maleness,'' declares Dr. Calderone. This opinion is supported by one of the nation's leading psychiatrists, Dr. Maurice E. Linden, director of the Mental Health Division of the Philadelphia Department of Public Health.