LOVE, SEX AND 'NOVA'
On the trots at Yarmouth, May Bank Holiday 1967
S A T U R D A Y, 2 7 M A Y
Slept jolly well on the boat and woke to pouring rain. I dozed until 10 and thought constantly about Dutronc. Reconstructed the whole of the morning of April 4th.
At the end of our row there's a new boat. It's awfully nice and there was a snazz on board, he was playing French radio. Went to the Stores and got 'Nova', and at 2pm we left. Got out of harbour pretty well considering the difficulty of it (and with not too much voice-raising from Daddy!) and had a jolly nice sail to Yarmouth though we had to leave the motor on for a lot of the way - there was so little wind. Had lunch and a FAB tea. Ma made the Dutch cinnamon cake and biscuits we had at Mance's.
Lay on the deck to catch the last of the sun and read 'Nova' - very interesting article on sex. Honestly, I am in a complete muddle what to think of it. Perhaps after all it has't got anything to do with love and should be treated as a perfectly normal thing for anybody to do with a boyfriend, as normal as going to the cinema. What they are saying in this article is that it should not be treated as it is now: boys sleep with their girlfriends simply to show how manly they are, and girls give in to them to please them, and to give themselves confidence.
“It’s batty - if a boy gave me up simply ‘cos I didn’t go to bed with him it’d just prove to me he wasn’t worth having. ”
What would be difficult though would be if he didn't give me up: I'd feel I was being rotten to him, he wanted it and I wouldn't give it to him, and it would be selfish on my part. I don't think now sex is the least immoral without love. Like Cat Stevens said, he needs it, and I expect some people do. I wish it wasn't treated so crudely. Some boys call it 'doing a bird.'
Got to Yarmouth at 7.30 and arrived on the trots quite professionally! Had veal stew and noodles for supper, then strawberries and cream. I did Diary and read Chump's 'Diana'.
Wish we could have gone to the pub.
“The pioneering Nova ”
"SEX: ONE LAW FOR SONS, ANOTHER FOR DAUGHTERS. P.60"
Kate Muir, 2006: "Nova was a politically radical, beautifully designed, intellectual women's magazine.”
I loved Nova. It ran for ten years, from 1965 to 1975. Many of its articles, such as 'How to undress in front of your husband', would barely show their age if published today. The same is true of the design.
