Gillian Anderson says she's "very comfortable" talking about sex.
This was evident even before we met to discuss her new book Desire, a collection of female sexual fantasies.
The actress, named the sexiest woman alive by FHM magazine, wore a vulva-covered dress to the awards ceremony and has a brand of soft drinks called G-dot.
She will forever be associated with honest conversations about intimate activities, after her role as a sex therapist in the hit series on the Netflix platform - "Sexual Education".
However, Anderson says that even she "struggled" to put the sexual fantasy into words for the book, as her publishers requested.
"Suddenly describing the images and the plot that had been in my head and the plot for a while, it added a level of intimacy that I wouldn't have expected, just as I wouldn't have expected to be so shy about it."
Her fantasy is hidden among 174 others in a book she edited that is not for the faint of heart.
The actress, who first made her mark as Dana Scully in the "X files" series, and her publishers received 1.800 anonymous testimonials from women around the world.
The letters are organized and published in 13 chapters with titles such as "To Be Worshiped," "Exploration," "Power and Submission," and "The Watchers and the Watched." ".
Contributors are anonymous with details only of sexual identity, age, income and relationship status.
Clinical psychologist Susan Young, who has read the book, says that "sexual fantasies are a healthy and normal aspect of sexual expression, provided they do not cause distress and harm".
They allow people to explore "in a safe, private and controlled environment - their thoughts".
The book contains stories like a grieving woman who longs for touch and mourns the secondary loss of sexual relations.
"I wish there were more conversations about grief and loss of a spouse and sexuality," she writes.
Others are "fantasies about very hot, sensual, passionate sex" with Harry Styles.
One co-worker, whose Orthodox faith forbids women to approach the altar, fantasizes about intimacy in that place in an abandoned church.
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Anderson describes the stories as "honest and raw, intimate and beautiful," adding, "We have letters where we fantasize about sex with strangers and talk about being driven by the idea of voyeurism."
"I was most interested in the joy and enjoyment that the women clearly wrote about, how much it seemed to open them up to a better understanding of themselves. After all, this is not my book. This is the book of every woman who contributed to it."
"Desire" is a depiction of the 21st century based on another collection of women's fantasy, "My Secret Garden", published in 1973. Journalist Nancy Friday's revolutionary book became a world bestseller because it was the first time women's desires were publicly announced in it.
Fifty-one years after that book, Anderson says she was "surprised" how much shame still exists when talking about sex and sharing sexual fantasies with friends or partners.
"I would have thought there would be less of that today" and that "quite opened her eyes".
Her book is an attempt to get us all to be more open about our desires.
"Sex and sexual fantasy are still taboo, even though we have shows like 'Sex Education,' 'Euphoria,' and 'Fifty Shades of Grey,'" says Anderson.
There's also the "multi-billion dollar pornography industry," which she describes as ubiquitous, "all the time on our screens, on our phones."
One of the texts in "Desire" begins with the words: "It was so difficult for me to understand what my fantasies were. So much in pornography is aimed at men, and so many expectations are placed before us women, that it is very difficult for me to navigate to what really turns me on versus how I feel I should behave."
Anderson encourages young people to read her book "because there are so many different versions of what sex can be outside of what the porn industry gives them."
"There's a lot of tenderness and women's desire to be seen as they are, and there's also a lot of romance."
Professor Yang emphasizes the difference between male and female desire. "Women's fantasies often have an emotional or narrative context that differs from the more visual and sexually explicit content reported by men."
Pornography is "less attractive to women because it tends to focus on men's desires," he adds.
In 1973, "My Secret Garden" published explicit chapters on sexual fantasies without consent and illegal sex, as well as a chapter on rape fantasies.
We live in more sensitive times and in 2024, Anderson wanted to create "a safe space for women to share, to read, and not feel like they have to be careful or afraid of what they're going to find on the next page."
It was "right" to reject "letters that bordered on illegality, bestiality or incest," she says.
Despite that choice, the short chapter "The Captive" has parts that Anderson says veer into "dangerous themes and it almost felt disingenuous not to include them because they're fantasies that women have."
Professor Young believes that these types of fantasies "about intense dominance, submission, violent and/or even non-consensual acts are not there because of the possible response to them".
"They provide a safe place to explore interests and desires that are considered taboo, dangerous or socially unacceptable.
What is most important for Anderson, in the fantasy, the woman is "the main one, she can decide with whom, when, where, how much, how often, when to stop, when to continue".
"So it feels like an empowering confession and revelation, not something that's under the other person's control."
The 56-year-old star, who is in her prime, remembers that "several" characters she played in movies and TV shows taught her about sex and sexuality.
For her, it is "of vital importance" to understand the desires and fantasies of these women, in order to understand "what moves them".
She firmly says, when it comes to her role in the series "The Crown", that she "didn't think about the sexual fantasies of (former British Prime Minister) Margaret Thatcher".
In person, Anderson is a star from head to toe - she's glowing, she's got smooth, well-groomed skin, she's petite. Some of the anonymous women in her book struggle with their body image and don't feel desirable.
Even Anderson admits that "she had periods where it really hit me that I was getting old."
"When I'm in front of the camera, there are definitely moments... when I see the final product and think, 'Oh my God, do I really look like that?'" he says.
Her philosophy is to repeat to herself that "this will be the youngest look from now on, so I better accept it".
Some of her peers resort to plastic surgery. "I haven't reached for it yet," she delivered. "But who knows?"
She recently finished shooting a female western for Netflix called The Abandons. Anderson plays the baroness, opposite Lena Hida from Game of Thrones.
"I am the owner of the city... This is my city. I often say that while walking in the center," he smiles.
When we met, Anderson sounded British, but in interviews and on Instagram, her accent is American.
She was born in the United States of America, but lived in Great Britain for decades.
"My cells are American, but my soul is British," he says.
Her next role is in a Channel 4 drama, which she will begin filming in Belfast. Her Northern Irish accent "isn't bad, actually," she explains.
However, before that, he needs to deal with the promotion of the book.
The question remains - can she offer us any clue of her sexual fantasy?
"There's no way," he laughs. As with the others, "mine will remain anonymous."
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