Hailed as ‘Dirty Book of the Month’ by Time in 1966, this novel was an instant bestseller. But not in Ireland, where it was illegal to sell it between 1967 and 1979. What does this classic of women’s fiction have to say about feminism, sex and medicine? With Dr Cara Rodway.
S5 E2 Phallic: Flynn, ‘My Wicked, Wicked Ways’ (1959)
Errol Flynn was extremely hot in his day but you might not see his beautiful face in the same way after reading his memoir. A scandalous take on Golden Age Hollywood, it was too salacious for the Irish market.
S3 E7 Queer, with cocktails: Moore, ‘Chocolates for Breakfast’ (1956)
A candid, haunting novel about the coming-of-age of a teenage girl. Full of decadent sexuality that would have given the censors a fit of the vapours.
S2 E7 Bestial Behaviour: Endore, ‘The Werewolf of Paris’ (1933)
Endore combined violence and blasphemy in this classic of the werewolf genre. It’s impossible to know whether the radical politics or freaky sex most offended the censor.
S2 E6: Love, not Sex: Wallace, ‘The Chapman Report’ (1960)
America was horrified when the Kinsey report showed women were capable of sexual misbehaviour. Wallace’s book trashed Kinsey but it still too sexy for the Irish censor.
