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?
ELIZA: He's not worried in the slightest -- he sees how happy I am with my girl friends...
DIANA: So the only sexual experience you've had is with other girls?
ELIZA: And masturbation, of course.
DIANA: When did you start to masturbate?
ELIZA: When I was fourteen -- a schoolfriend showed me how to do it properly. I'd tried on my own before that but had never reached orgasm.
DIANA: Did you masturbate a lot with your school friends?
ELIZA: Oh yes! There was a group of us who would sometimes masturbate several times during the day. Even in class... And in the shower after sports... But usually it was when we were able to be alone together in the classroom. Or by the river when we went for a walk in the lunch break...
DIANA: How often do you masturbate now?
ELIZA: About five times a day, usually.
DIANA: That's quite a lot...
ELIZA: Not really -- I pee more often than that..
DIANA: Yes, well -- that's a natural function that...
ELIZA: Oh come of it Doctor...
DIANA: Call me Diana...
ELIZA: Look, Diana, isn't masturbation a natural function? It relaxes me -- I never have any problem with stress...
DIANA: Yes, sorry -- I didn't mean to knock it...
ELIZA: I mean, be honest -- don't you masturbate sometimes?
DIANA: Yes, I do, but..
ELIZA: But nothing -- if you masturbate you know why I masturbate and you know its therapeutic effects...
DIANA: Yes, but I make love with my husband as well...