Climax crisis

Suzanne Moore recalls meeting Shere Hite in an Islington pub around 1990 – the bestselling feminist author staying in a friend's squat, carrying an umbrella to shield her alabaster skin. Tracing how Hite's revolutionary research on female orgasm led to her cancellation and exile from America, Moore explores why a woman who proved most women need clitoral stimulation became so threatening she had to "disappear" into European obscurity.

Academic Kate Devlin traces the vibrator's journey from Victorian pain-relief device to modern design object, debunking the myth that it was used to cure "hysteria" along the way. Exploring the persistent "orgasm gap" between men and women – and the fact that lesbian women orgasm more frequently than heterosexual women – she argues that sex toys aren't trivial feminist tools but essential for achieving genuine sexual equity.