Today, girls may know more about sex but Lace's message of empowerment and equality is as relevant and important as it was 30 years ago. It's a pity that modern novels, especially informative ones that involve women's sexuality are put down as 'mummy porn', 'bonkbusters', 'bodice rippers', 'beach-reads', 'w*nk-fodder' or, simply, trash. But what has clearly been proved, and what has changed in the last 30 years, is that women are far more openly interested in having an enjoyable sex life.

Even a decade ago, using a vibrator or (worse!) a male mastubator was an admission of failure, a last resort for the losers in love who had given up on ever having an actual flesh-and-blood relationship. All the lonely people, the Beatles nearly sang, where do they go to come? But now, according to research, the sex toy market is worth an estimated £250m a year in the UK.

First of all, let me express my distaste at having to refer to masturbation as 'female masturbation'. It suggests from the offset that masturbation is...