After what I said the other day about women wanting to be defined by their association with a single partner, it was interesting to read some remarks from Marie Helvin.

interviewed by Chrissey Iley in the Sunday Times Marie says she knows what she wants and what she doesn’t. She doesn’t want to live with another person. She would however like to

have someone. She might see that person once a week. Because she feels stifled by having a boyfriend and prefers to be alone she goes on retreat and doesn’t speak for thirty days and is happy with that. She goes to the Holy Isle just off Arran. She hates talking and the constant need to explain herself.

When I’m remarking along similar lines my assumption is that such inclinations would be alien to any woman. Of course this is not so. Alien to most people no doubt but where that is not so, that person might just as readily be female as male. Helvin says she is perfectly fine with the idea of seeing a man, having great sex and maybe she sees him again, maybe not. She is very attractive at fifty and seems just the ticket.