“Women were not allowed to be sexy at sixty. We were supposed to become grandmothers and retreat into serene sexlessness.” Enjoy this video of the acclaimed feminist writer Erica Jong, who talks about and gives a humorous reading from her 2015-novel ‘Fear of Dying’. Writing ‘Fear of Dying’, Jong says, was an attempt to fill in a story she feels has been missing from our literature. It’s the story of an older woman coming to terms with her life and the sense that “sex at sixty was an embarrassment. Even if you still looked good, you knew too much.” In continuation of this, Jong believes that “life gets better as you get older. Your judgment is better. Your passion is greater. Your ability to understand life is greater than ever before.” Erica Jong (b. 1942) is an American novelist, essayist, and poet. She has published more than 25 works of both fiction and non-fiction but is perhaps most known for her 1973 novel ‘Fear of Flying’ which has been translated into more than 40 languages and sold over 27 million copies. The novel was considered controversial due to its portrayal of female sexuality linked to second-wave feminism. In 2015 Jong published the sequel to her debut, ‘Fear of Dying’. Erica Jong performed at the Louisiana Literature festival in Denmark in August 2016.