Stephen Fry: Uncle Disgusted

Oh bottoms!
It seems that the much loved "National Treasure" etc etc Stephen Fry has said something slightly controversial.
And The Observer's Polly Vernon is not very happy about it.
"Broadcaster and writer Stephen Fry has tried to establish himself as an unlikely authority on female sexuality, claiming that straight women only go to bed with men "because sex is the price they are willing to pay for a relationship".
"In uncharacteristically extreme comments, the openly gay Twitter champion said he believed most straight men felt that "they disgust women" as they "find it difficult to believe that women are as interested in sex as they are"."
The quotes in question are taken from an interview in this month's Attitude - pictured above (Did Apple pay for the product placement?)
Says Fry; "If women liked sex as much as men, there would be straight cruising areas in the way there are gay cruising areas. Women would go and hang around in churchyards thinking: 'God, I've got to get my fucking rocks off', or they'd go to Hampstead Heath and meet strangers to shag behind a bush. It doesn't happen. Why? Because the only women you can have sex with like that wish to be paid for it."
Fry, 6' 5", continues: "I feel sorry for straight men. The only reason women will have sex with them is that sex is the price they are willing to pay for a relationship with a man, which is what they want. Of course, a lot of women will deny this and say, 'Oh no, but I love sex, I love it!' But do they go around having it the way that gay men do?"
The Observer's Polly Vernon sounds pretty disgusted.
In fact, Fagburn detects a slight whiff of homophobia (Well, they all hate women, don't they...)
"The remarks denote a marked break in tone from a man whose public shtick tends towards inoffensive charm and gently upmarket wit and are likely to be roundly dismissed by those who have embraced the idea of women's ability to have unemotional, uncommitted sex as an empowered lifestyle choice."
Did you have anyone in mind, Polly?
Hang on - here's Rosie Boycott, an unlikely authority on gay male sexuality; "Women are just as capable as men are of enjoying sex. We don't go cruising or cottaging on Hampstead Heath because we don't need to. Cottaging on Hampstead Heath [sic] is presumably a hangover from the days when, sadly, [homosexuality] was illegal..."
Susie Orbach, the noted feminist writer and psychotherapist said; "I'm really intrigued by his notion that men's sexuality is disgusting in some way. Why would he believe that women could be so disgusted by men? Does he think there is something disgusting about sex?"
Umm... yes, since you ask, he does.
To quote a profile from The Independent; "Fry himself has been openly gay for ages, although for many years he was famously celibate, claiming disgust at the idea of "rubbing the wet slimy bits" of his body over other people."
His 16 years of self-imposed celibacy seem to have been prompted by a disgust for sex, and indeed for the human body.
His notorious article announcing he was celibate to the world, written for The Tatler in 1985 and much syndicated, was titled simply 'Sex... Don't Do It!'
(It's collected in Fry's Paperweight as 'The Tatler and Sex'. I can't find the text on the net, but there's an amusing YouTube rendition here).
"I gave coitus the red card for utilitarian reasons: the displeasure, discomfort and aggravation it caused me," he wrote.
Fry wondered; "What could ever be appealing about those damp, dark, foul-smelling revoltingly tufted areas of the human body that constitute the main dishes in the banquet of love?"
Yuk!