''Whatever you do, don't tell the boys you went to a convent school." The advice was drummed into me by a long list of anxious friends and relatives, who knew that bad girls may be fun, but good girls are irresistible. And who is more of a good girl than a convent-educated Catholic?
A strictly brought up Muslim girl, that's who. Hence all the lip-smacking, nudge-nudging over Faria Alam, the Football Association secretary who had an affair with Sven-Goran Eriksson - and with Mark Palios, the FA chief executive, and apparently a third FA boss. Faria is undeniably beautiful; but, much more important, she was brought up a strict Muslim - and there's nothing as titillating as forbidden fruit.
Faria will have been raised to keep a modest demeanour, to beware of men, and to say no to sex before marriage. True, Faria did not wear a hijab, and no longer lived with her family. She aspired to be a model. Yet the clothes she modelled for an Asian fashion show reveal only the most modest expanse of neck, hands and feet; and her mum is allegedly beside herself at the scandal that may have affected her 38- year-old daughter's chances of catching a good Muslim husband. "My sister is not loose," her brother Aswat Alam confirmed to the Sun. She "is not the sort of woman to throw herself at men".
Absolutely: but therein lies her intoxicating appeal. In the eyes of a British (or Swedish) man, the image of the well brought up Muslim totty is a turn-on, in the way that the vicar's daughter and the convent schoolgirl are. Their propriety, and their family's piety, tickles not only the Svens but also the Sun readers. The prim and proper image, coupled with good looks, acts upon the (rather predictable) male imagination like the sight of a black lace slip peeping below a sober skirt. It's a promise of great things to come.
Faria Alam probably never thought of consciously playing on her Muslim upbringing. But she is living proof that there's nothing like a hint of repressed desires and reined-in base instincts to tantalise a certain kind of man. For this same kind of man, the whole of the female sex divides neatly into two categories - Madonna and whore. There's no greater fantasy for them than the thought of the former slipping into the latter - a transformation in which, needless to say, they hope to play a rather crucial, hands-on role. This is the great attraction of the good girls: they are only good until they meet you. It is your charisma, your sexual prowess, wit and passion that turns these cool customers into hot-to-trot sex kittens.
