Above all, we teach that sex may be wonderful and relationships loving, but neither are ever perfect and that idealising them is the short way to heartbreak. We aim to reassure our female clients that their first time may not be utterly joyful and that they may not gain reliable orgasms through penetration, but that they themselves are nonetheless existentially valid and that with affection and good humour things can improve immensely,' writes Quilliam.

We want women to be aware of their own desires rather than be 'awakened'. Writing in the latest issue of the academic magazine, published by the British Medical Journal, Quilliam said that the messages of 'the post-sexual revolution bodice rippers of the s', which typically see 'the heroine being rescued from danger by the hero, and then abandoning herself joyfully to a life of intercourse-driven multiple orgasms and endless trouble-free pregnancies in order to cement their marital devotion', run 'totally counter to those we try to promote'. Her comments follow a recent claim that romance novels can 'dangerously unbalance' their readers, with Christian psychologist Dr Juli Slattery saying she was seeing 'more and more women who are clinically addicted to romantic books', and that 'for many women, these novels really do promote dissatisfaction with their real relationships'.

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