I have to admit the "finer side of intercourse" makes me snigger, because I am ten, like the bit in The Heir of Redclyffe that says "[M]amma said to Charlie how beautifully [Amy] did behave, and [Guy] too, -- never attempting any intercourse." (It occurs to me that you don't hear "intercourse" used for "sex" very much any longer - a good thing, too - so perhaps we will come round to people being able to read such expressions with perfect gravity.)