“It is true, I think, that some women find it harder to write about sex than their male counterparts – I know I find it difficult, and I’m pretty sure that it has a lot to do with the fact that readers are informed by the sexual double standard when they react to sex writing: men seem to be able to do it with impunity, as confirmation of their virility, whereas women who write well about sex are assumed to be somewhat loose living. I can’t deny that this affected my decisions when it came to writing the chapter about sex in my book – and it took me twice as long as the other chapters, such was the challenge of hitting the right tone, neither prudish nor graphic. Perhaps I’d have been less sensitive if I’d been a man - but then again, perhaps the end result would have been less useful to readers, many of whom also struggle with the inherent ambivalencies of sex.”
— Can women write about Sex? Guardian Books blog, 19th June 2009
