A feminist who hates women.

Telling women not to expect orgasms but to fake them, and to praise their partner lavishly afterwards, is not advice normally associated with a woman who has been in the vanguard of feminism for four decades.

Nevertheless, Fay Weldon gives short shrift to the views for which feminists have fought so bitterly over the years. In her latest book, she not only warns high-flying women that they should expect to end up single, she also suggests that sexual pleasure may be incompatible with high-powered careers and that women should simply accept they are less capable of being happy than men.

'Eighty per cent of women only sometimes - or never - experience orgasm. Facts are facts and there we are. Deal with it,' she writes in What Makes Women Happy?, to be published this month by Fourth Estate.

According to Weldon, sensible members of the sisterhood should, therefore, follow the example so graphically set by the actor Meg Ryan in the 1989 movie When Harry Met Sally, and fake orgasms whenever necessary.

'If you are happy and generous-minded, you will fake it and then leap out of bed and pour him champagne, telling him, "You are so clever" or however you express enthusiasm,' she says. 'Faking is kind to male partners ... Otherwise they too may become anxious and so less able to perform. Do yourself and him a favour, sister: fake it.'

That may be the saddest thing that I have ever read. Why would anybody give up their right to feel pleasure just to make their partner feel that they accomplished something that they did not accomplish? If your man does not know that he is failing to rock your world then why would he ever work to improve his performance?

And speaking for guys everywhere we don't want to be lied to. We would much rather you be honest with us. Just be careful how you tell us that we are a failure in bed. We might cry.

But men are problem solvers. You show us a river that needs crossing and we will cross it. Show us a mountain that needs climbing and we will climb it. Tell us that we are not giving you the pleasure that you desire we will fix it.

Women tend to be shy about talking about their needs but if they love somebody they should always feel they can talk about the things they need or desire. Your man wants to make you happy. He loves you. He will do what you need him to do. And remember that the next time he asks you for something.