Eighty-one-year-old novelist Jilly Cooper on Thursday said that modern married men are having gay affairs these days because they are "terrified" of women, according to reports. The racy novelist also added that men these days "cry all the time" and women wear short skirts but have "do not touch tattooed across their knees."

Cooper made these statements while speaking at the Hay literary festival. Cooper also said that she was also worried about the effect of the Me Too campaign may have on views of dating in today's scenario. The Me Too movement, which was initiated in late 2017, is an international campaign against sexual harassment and assault.

"I have one adorable gay friend whose lover died. He's just started going on the internet now. It's all married men wanting to have gay affairs. Do you think men are so terrified of women, it's safer to get [it] on with their own sex?" the novelist said.

Cooper, while speaking at the festival said, that men follow a cyclical behavioral pattern, recalling how men in the Shakespearean era cried and grew beards. She then went ahead to point out that her father and late husband, however, did neither, and that men now are back to having beards. "Men cry all the time now and they have beards," Cooper said.

Cooper, while describing how campaigns against sexual harassment have affected relationships, said: "One lovely man said 'I can't flirt any more'. You have a mini skirt up to here, then 'do not touch' tattooed across your knees."

Despite her views about modern men and women and the kind of relationships they have these days, the novelist conceded that men these days are better at attempting to make relationships work, according to reports.

"I think a lot of the young men I know love their wives and are determined to make their marriages stay," she said. "But being happily married doesn't stop you falling in love with other people."

The author, while addressing the festival attendees, cautioned about the dangers of online dating, stating that one can not be sure about the kind of person you meet over the internet. "I don't know how many of you go online, but the idea of going online... I have a bad hip and I can't run away from a mass murderer," Cooper said.