The Pyjama Game

Sex and the Single Girl. By Helen Gurley Brown. (Muller, I8s.) COLIN WILSON starts his investigation into the

Origins of the Sexual Impulse by proposing a fundamental conflict of purpose : nature, on the

one hand, wants us to reproduce ourselves,

Whereas all we're interested in is having orgasms. Mr. Wilson cites the extreme case of young children: they don't care who stimulates their

genitals or how, so long as they get stimulated. If we extend the principle. with certain neces-

sary modifications, to the adult, we find our- selves with the question, not, 'What is sex for?'

but, existentially, 'What part does sex play in Man's total being?'

Now, lots of people are ready to tell us what part sex should play in our total being: i.e.,

what is and what is not 'natural' or 'normal.' Thus Tolstoy announced that normality extended

Only to the conscious getting of children,• while the average sexologist, somewhat more tolerant, would probably allow most acts that end with

a discharge of spermatozoa into the vagina. But Mr. Wilson isn't having any of this. The

Orgasm, he says, is a brief but powerful means of heightening human consciousness. Brief, be- cause niggard nature doesn't want our conscious- ness consistently heightened, as this might lead to the neglect of everyday tasks and so imperil hprocess of evolution. But for us it's the

e and now : evolution is none of our busi- ness; what we want is heightened consciousness (if 1 seem to be repeating this phrase overmuch,

IY)1:).11 should just see Mr. Wilson's text) and the

lead and better orgasms which we hope will lead to it. This being a legitimate aspiration, Mr.

Wilson insists that we no longer ask, 'What is normal and what is perverted?' but, positively, What is the permissible limit?' Let us assume !hat anything goes until we find good reason why shouldn't. So far, so good. Mr. Wilson now embarks on a discussion of the expedients which people have

from time to time found necessary in order to enhance their lives through orgasm, and some

of these expedients really will not do at all. However much someone's consciousness is going r13 be heightened, he cannot be allowed to go round chopping off heads. And yet, Mr. Wilson urges such an act may be the entirely logical rthesult of certain patterns of frustration, and eref0re, from the point of view of the sexual murderer as opposed to that of society, per- issible and even `healthy.' Mr. Wilson has 14°w gone much too far, and I think I know why. andencourages people to expect too much of _ to regard it as a kind of spiritual panacea, qro,oto overlook the sane principles of pleasure. 1,11 his search for a 'permissible limit,' he

Pleasure, all would be well, because pleasure,.

there understood, implies balance. While to r,_e may be maniac delight, there is no pleasure ca.ne had from' chopping off heads, if only be- of the difficulties which arise when the Show, so to speak, is over. On the other hand, 1,,,„nY milder practices which have nothing to do "a child-etting and are widely held to be Perverted' after.— can give exquisite pleasure with no eyes Teets and are obviously permissible in the an civilised man. d'rti Wilson, in short, has made the common Sea ex, dreary mistake of taking sex too seriously. hi, as Helen Gurley Brown could have told is best regarded as a high-quality amuse- ment. Accordingly, Sex and the Single Girl is a sensible plea to all females not to rush into marriage just for the sake of it. Wait for some- one worth while; and in the meantime, here is how to keep yourself happy. Get an interesting job, a nice flat, dress in such and such a way, and ignore the rubbish about chastity in the women's mags: upon which there follow ex- cellent, predatory instructions about how to flatter and feed up a male for the bed. Helen Gurley Brown's attitude is, in fact, masculine except in one respect: although she regards men as a woman's playthings, she insists that the men must pay the hotel bills. She wants it all ways round, and to judge from the self- satisfied photograph on the jacket I should say she gets it.

SIMON RAVEN