By Jeremy Lovell

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - Women who have won equality in many aspects of life but still feel underappreciated in bed on Thursday were offered lunchtime courses on sex tips.

The aim of the hour-long sessions is to give women the confidence to finally get from their partners the sexual consideration they deserve, said sex expert Mary Clegg, who is running the courses.

For Clegg, resident counsellor at the Amora sex and relationships attraction in London's Trocadero that is hosting the courses, it is not really women who need the sex technique lessons - it is men.

"For far too many men it is still a case of 'wham bam thank you ma'am' with little apparent thought for the legitimate desires of women," she told Reuters in an interview.

"Women's' expectations have grown in every part of their lives. They are supremely confident in the boardroom but still not in the bedroom. Some 30 percent of women never achieve orgasm. That has to change," she added.

But women are far more willing than men to recognise and then admit that they have problems.

"Women will treat this seriously and be willing to learn. Men think they know everything," Clegg said. "If I ran this course for men no one would turn up."

And the ultimate goal is that it will be the women who benefit.

"I like to give women the confidence to get what they want. Most couples are not operating on an equal basis when it comes to sex. Everyone has sexual baggage, but very few couples are prepared to discuss it," Clegg said.

"The trouble is that sex is everywhere - in magazines, in shops, in advertisements, on film and television - and it gives a completely distorted view of what is considered 'normal'," she added.

Amora, which opened in April this year, is an interactive sex education centre that explores male and female sexuality, relationships and health in often graphic detail.

"The standards of sex education in this country are low and very patchy. The aim of this is to try to improve that," Clegg said. "This is educational, although we appreciate that some people may find it arousing."

And it is not all bad news. Some men are starting to become more aware of female sexuality, she said.

"I did an orgasm workshop for women on Monday and three men turned up," she said. "I pointed out to them that it was all about the female orgasm and they said that was what they wanted to find out more about. That must be good news for women."