This One's For The Ladies

Before 50 Shades was steaming up commuter Kindles, before Jilly Cooper, even, Shirley Conran gave us the gift of Lace, the original bonkbuster par excellence.

A Mills & Boon-y whirlwind of Swiss boarding school chicanery, bed-hopping champagne heirs and sleazy Parisian photographers, Lace was surreptitious sex-ed at its most entertaining.

On the occasion of this major classic's 30th anniversary and republication, Conran tells Stylist's Amy Grier what women want from erotica.

Words: Shirley Conran / Amy Grier

"I wrote Lace in the days when most men thought the clitoris was a Greek hotel. It started life as a non-fiction book for young girls, explaining sex from their point of view but women respond best when there is a story involved, and that’s how Lace took shape.

Back then, female erotica or pornography was almost non-existent. It wasn’t something people spoke of – men were the ruling class and most of girls were completely bewildered by sex. One of my favourite passages of Laceis when one of the characters remarks on what she thought of a man’s penis the first time she saw it. “It was very ugly, she thought” was what I wrote. Well, it’s not the most aesthetically beautiful object in the world is it?

Judy Blume wrote young women's manuals, but there is still little to nothing for adult women seeking a spicy read.  What little you can find is safely shrouded in social and moral safety zones, so as not to distract from the "lessons" that often set women back generations.  50 Shades has opened a door that may never close again.  With the new publishing venues, it only takes one shot at going viral to achieve success.

Smart writers will take a shot at a glaring opportunity.

But also, I had to share it because of the best quote ever involving mention of a lady part.