Fear of Flying still soars above tabloid outrage

The indignation that greeted Radio 4’s adaptation of Erica Jong’s feminist classic is testament to an unflinching gaze on life and gender that still has the power to shock

“RADIO 4-LETTER” was the Sun’s headline earlier this week as it raged at BBC Radio 4 and its feminist series Riot Girls, for the week-long broadcast of a reading of Erica Jong’s 1973 novel Fear of Flying. After objectifying women on page 3 for, say, 45 years, the Sun decided that Radio 4 had somehow lowered the tone. Listeners were apparently “furious”, the paper declared, noting that “Ofcom confirmed they had received one complaint.” Huh.

As a millennial who spent most her teenage years reading fantasy novels and pulp crime, I never picked up the feminist classic Fear of Flying as a teen. Unlike a few of my colleagues, who start speaking about the novel and find themselves glazing over with memories of nervous readings hidden away from parents during school breaks in the 70s. But in the wake of Fifty Shades and all its virgin fisting and tampon yanking (yep), is there anything in Jong’s novel to blush over?

Related: Fear of Flying by Erica Jong – read the first chapter

Related: Erica Jong: 'There are a million ways of making love…'

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