This week marks the 40th anniversary of Erica Jong’s novel Fear of Flying, heralded as a defining milestone in feminist text and the free expression movement. Within the book, Jong explores a character who is emotionally damaged and trapped in a loveless marriage.  The female protagonist manages to find liberation both sexually and mentally while traveling abroad, with a man who is not her husband.

In marking the anniversary, the ramifications of the publication of such a sensational, brash declaration of sexual freedom are being evaluated by many in the literary critique field. Just this weekend, while home on break, I read an opinion piece in Star News that blamed Jong’s writing for the supposed downward slide of the moral standards of women across the U.S.. He spoke of Jong’s writing as a catalyst for the existence of the Kardashian sisters and Miley’s now infamous “twerk.” This particular columnist fails to realize that the most extreme example of female media portrayal is not the norm and is certainly not the byproduct of sexual liberation as described in Fear of Flying.

Here’s the truth: Erica Jong did not invent sex, female desire and certainly not the female orgasm. The publication of her novel did not lead to millions of women making an exodus from their husbands to find affairs. She did not single-handedly cause pop culture to accept sub-par performance art, and she certainly did not facilitate the double standard of what is acceptable female or male behavior in media.

Fear of Flying is not significant because it described sex with unrestricted language and tackled topics considered taboo for most of the last century (although those are noteworthy qualities of the text). Fear of Flying is significant because it was published at all. It was written by a women for women—not as an instruction manual, but to validate women being sexual creatures in any form: whether happily married, reserved, single or involved in non-traditional romantic pursuits. Jong didn’t declare that her female readers had to follow the route to liberation and satisfaction her particular character did, she only insisted that they recognized what was best for themselves.  

So where are we now, 40 years past the initial publication?

 We have Kim Kardashian, Miley Cyrus and endless examples of over-sexualization, or at least sexual behavior in poor taste. But we also have women across the nation who are now unafraid of their own sexuality, in whatever manifestation that may take. TIME Magazine has labeled Fear of Flying as one of the “top 10 raciest novels of all time,” and in noting the anniversary, listed the most famous quotes from the novel. I will leave you with one: “The trouble is, if you don’t risk anything, you risk even more.”  

That quote in context may relate to diving into an affair, but it can also be applied to any scenario. The beauty this novel’s publication and existence is that your decisions regarding the principles contend therein are not spelled out to you — they are entirely yours to make.