Fear of Flying sold 18 million copies worldwide and helped tip feminism into a new focus on fulfilled sexuality. But it also introduced a meme so pervasive that the book's author, Erica Jong, worried the phrase "zipless f--k" would appear on her tombstone.
Jong recenly defined the phrase on NPR's Weekend Edition:
The zipless f---- was more than a f----. It was a platonic ideal. Zipless, because when you came together, zippers fell away like rose petals. Underwear blew off in one breath like dandelion fluff. Tongues intertwined and turned liquid. Your whole soul flowed out through your tongue and into the mouth of your lover.
So how does the world of 2013 look to the writer who gave us Isadora Wing?
We talk with Jong about feminism and gender in American pop culture and politics.
This show originally aired on October 7, 2013.
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GUESTS:
- Erica Jongis the author of Fear of Flying
- Lucy Ferrissis an author and writer in residence at Trinity College