Jilly Cooper: Men are diminished by #MeToo – people are too PC

Author Jilly Cooper has said that men are being “diminished” by the #MeToo movement and that nowadays “everybody is too PC”.

The 81-year-old, dubbed “the queen of the bonkbuster” due to best-selling erotic novels such as Riders, Rivals and Polo, said women were attracted to a “dominant male”.

That is why, she said, the Fifty Shades Of Grey series of books was such a hit.

“I read it. The thing I love about her (author EL James) is that she has sold 100 million copies and she is published by my publishers so they can afford me!”

Cooper continued: “I think because men are being so diminished now, everywhere – Me Too, Me Too, Me Too. I think (protagonist) Christian Grey is whacking away and he’s a dominant male.

“I think secretly women, although they want to be in the ascendancy, they are quite attracted by the idea of a dominant male… They obviously like a very tough man.”

Cooper said her own books, many set in the world of horse riding and showjumping, “have very dominant” characters.

“There is a very good line in one of the books I wrote… they are all suing (a man) because he didn’t make a pass at them.

“Everybody sues everybody for jumping on them but they sue him for not jumping on them because he is so gorgeous.”

Cooper is currently working on her new novel, which turns to the lives of footballers, and admitted it is taking her longer to write than she would like.

“I’m working on a novel about football. It’s going very, very, very, very, very slowly,” she said.

“It’s so difficult. For two years… I have research up to the ceiling and I am just working on the first chapter at the moment, which is shaming.”

Football is “a very complicated game”, she said, but added: “I am working on it. I know about all these things that they do, corners and things.

“Riders took me 15 years. I keep saying to myself, ‘Don’t worry darling, it’s only been two years.'”

(c) Sky News 2019: Jilly Cooper: Men are diminished by #MeToo – people are too PC