Modern men cry all the time, have beards and are scared of women, says Jilly Cooper

The British novelist was speaking at the Hay Literary Festival
Jilly Cooper says men these days are 'always crying'
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Edwina Langley1 June 2018

Modern men are frightened of women, says British novelist Jilly Cooper. So much so, she has questioned whether it might be the reason why some married men turn to gay dating sites.

Speaking at the Hay Literary Festival, the 81-year-old revealed how an "adorable gay friend" who had lost his partner and recently began online dating had found: "It is all married men wanting to have gay affairs." "Do you think they are so terrified of women now it is safer to go with their own sex?" she asked, as reported by The Guardian.

The author, best-known for her Rutshire Chronicles - a series of semi-erotic novels centred on the upper classes and (for the most part) equestrian sports - also observed how the modern man is no stranger to tears and favours growing facial hair.

"Men cry all the time now," she said. "The whole time, always crying. And they have beards."

Speaking at the festival to historical novelist Stephanie Merritt, Cooper said her next novel will probably be her last and revealed it will be football-themed. 'Tackle' is set to be the title and it will feature a glamorous English manager - because the country needs one, she said, adding that all the glamorous managers in British football are European.

This is the second time Cooper has hit the headlines this week. In a piece penned by her for The Lady magazine, Cooper wrote in condemnation of her renowned 1969 guide for wives: 'How To Stay Married'.

In it, she had advised women to cook, do all the housework and also keep their husbands perpetually happy under the covers. If they denied their men sex for two days running, she wrote, he shouldn't be blamed for straying. But in revisiting the advice, she claims she "nearly died of horror".

"What a smug, opinionated, proselytising little know-it-all I was back then," she wrote.

She added, "More shamingly, I have never practised what I preached."

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