Eliza Lintock, aged 21 has been sent to a psychiatrist by her mother who is worried because her daughter insists that she is a lesbian and has no desire to have sexual intercourse with men... The psychiatrist is Dr Diana Lemon, aged 42, an expert on matters sexual...
DIANA: Come in, Eliza. Please sit down.
ELIZA: Aren't I supposed to lie on a couch, or something?
DIANA: That isn't essential, but if you prefer that...
ELIZA: No -- I'm quite happy sitting...
DIANA: Tell me a bit about yourself...
ELIZA: What -- my name, age, education...?
DIANA: No, I know all that -- what do you like doing in your spare time?
ELIZA: Oh, reading, riding my bike, going out with friends -- working on the computer.
DIANA: What do you do on the computer?
ELIZA: I write a bit - and surf quite a lot.
DIANA: What do you write?
ELIZA: Er -- stories...
DIANA: What sort of stories...
ELIZA: Well -- oh I might as well tell you, because I know where all this is leading -- erotic stories.
DIANA: There's nothing you need to be ashamed about there -- my husband also writes erotic stories, although I'd categorize them more as pornographic...
ELIZA: Really -- he lets you read them?
DIANA: Yes, why not? We're very open with each other...
ELIZA: Yes, well I'm pretty open with Dad, but Mum doesn't like talking about sex -- sex and death are taboo as subjects of conversation as far as she is concerned.
DIANA: So you get on well with your father?
ELIZA: Very well, yes...
DIANA: You're a very attractive girl -- has he ever indicated that he's perhaps attracted to you as a man to a woman.
ELIZA: Good God, no! Well...
DIANA: Yes?
ELIZA: Yes, I think he does find me attractive as a woman -- but he doesn't... you know...
DIANA: He's never touched you -- in a sexual way?
ELIZA: Mummy's obviously been telling you things. Look there was this one time... I've always been frightened of thunder, and when I was a little girl, when it thundered I always went into my parents' bed. Then -- when I was thirteen -- there was this terrible thunderstorm and I was dead scared.. Mum was away, but I crept into their room and slipped into bed next to Dad. He was asleep and I don't think he felt me get in...
DIANA: And...?
ELIZA: Well, sometime during the night I woke up and Dad was pressed right against me - I think he was still asleep, but his prick, I mean his cock... well, I called it a willy in those days -- anyway it was erect and sticking into me...
DIANA: Into your vag...
ELIZA: Good grief no, into my back! I didn't know what to do -- I moved away, but he put his arm round me and started to rub his prick against my back... I wasn't frightened or anything -- I just thought it a bit funny -- strange... Anyway I kept perfectly still and then he put his hand down and took hold of his prick and started rubbing it -- until he came, squirting sperm all over my nightie. My first reaction was that he was peeing all over me -- but then I remembered the conversations I'd had with my schoolmates about boys masturbating and spurting sperm and I realized what had happened.
DIANA: Did your father wake up...
ELIZA: Yes, he woke up almost immediately and when he realized what had happened he felt terrible -- he almost cried. He didn't know how to apologize, how to explain what had happened, but we switched on the light, he calmed down a bit and started to tell me about what happened to boys and men, about masturbation and all that -- of course I knew it all in theory, but now I'd seen it in practice. He asked me not to say anything about this to Mummy, and I didn't, but I think he must have told her himself -- much later -- because when Mummy goes on at me about my being a lesbian, she brings this up as a possible reason.
DIANA: Do you think it's a possible reason?
ELIZA: I don't know -- you tell me -- you're the shrink. What it did do was make me so much closer to Daddy -- so that I was able to talk to him about everything -- including sex -- much better than I've ever been able to talk to Mummy.
DIANA: So you discuss sex with your father? What does he think about your apparent sexual orientation -- no, let me first ask you -- do you see yourself as a lesbian?
ELIZA: In that I am sexually attracted to women and have no desire to have sexual intercourse with a man -- yes.
DIANA: Does it worry you?
ELIZA: Worry me? Not in the least. It only worries Mummy, it seems.
DIANA: And your father?