From one taboo to another

New York

TWO words have vexed Erica Jong for the last 42 years. The first is "zipless", and the second is not printable in this newspaper.

The phrase, immortalised in her 1973 best-selling novel, Fear of Flying, which has sold more than 27 million copies, entered the cultural lexicon as a shorthand for casual, consequence-free sex. It turned Ms Jong into a feminist heroine of sorts and avatar of female sexual liberation, and helped propel and define her career.