London - British author Jilly Cooper has waded into the debate over sexual assault by claiming men are diminished by the MeToo campaign.
The 81-year-old romance author said women secretly wanted their lovers to be dominant. She attributed the success of the Fifty Shades series by EL James to the fact that the male protagonist is "tough".
Cooper added: “I think because men are being so diminished now, everywhere - Me Too, Me Too, Me Too.
“I think 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 “have very dominant characters” and she has been working on a footie-based novel for two years but is still on chapter one.
She condemned sexual violence but said the MeToo movement had made it difficult to flirt.