Genius. It forces us to rethink the way we respond to those female traits that have for centuries been dismissed as desirable, yes, but essentially superfluous and irrelevant and perhaps even a little vulgar. In Hakim's world, knowing how to conduct oneself well in social situations is as valuable and admirable as an ability to do the Times crossword. It might appear that she is harking back to old-fashioned views of femininity. In fact her ideas are the most modern of modern: to show women how to reclaim these aspects of themselves rather than denying or subjugating them. -- Sarah Vine, Book Of The Week Times There's something altogether refreshing about Hakim's spade-calling -- Will Self Guardian Hakim is quite right on one central point: women in the UK and the US are not brought up to make the best of themselves, as French women are. We are taught that beauty is the poor cousin of brains; we are hung up about flaunting it ... makes one see things differently. Sitting on the Tube having just finished it, I stared at all the frumpy English women and thought what a shame it was that so few of them were making anything of their erotic capital. -- Lucy Kellaway Financial Times

Catherine Hakim is a sociologist in the London School of Economics. She is an expert on the sociology of the labour market, changing social attitudes, women's employment and theories of women's position in society. She has published numerous academic works and papers. Her theory of erotic capital was first advanced in a paper for Oxford University's European Social Research journal. It has received much media and academic interest from around the world.