Women over 50 ‘too old to love’, says bestselling author

A bestselling French author has sparked a backlash in his homeland and beyond after saying that he was “incapable” of dating women his own age because they are “too old to love”.

In an interview with Marie Claire, 50-year-old Yann Moix said: “I can’t love a 50-year-old woman.”

The prize-winning novelist - described by Marie Claire as having “a reputation as a first-class skirtchaser” - continued: “A 25-year-old woman’s body is extraordinary. A 50-year-old woman’s body isn’t at all extraordinary.”

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He magnanimously added that he would be “capable” of dating 50-year-old women once he reached the age of 60, when they would “seem young”.

For good measure, he added that he only dated “Koreans, Chinese and Japanese” women.

Moix’s comments have proved “polemic”, says HuffPost France. Many women - and more than a few men - responded with incredulity to the remarks.

In a tweet dripping with sarcasm, 48-year-old French actress Marina Foïs mused: “Only a year and 14 days to sleep with Yann Moix”, followed by crossed finger emojis.

Nonetheless, some came to the author’s defence, arguing that his romantic preferences - however bluntly phrased - were his own business.

“Yann Moix has the right to sleep with whoever he wants,” wrote journalist Quentin Girard in a column for Liberation. When it comes to attraction “we all have our preferences”, even if Moix’s middle-aged desire to pursue younger women is “not very original”.

For his part, Moix has responded to the outcry with a Gallic shrug, saying he is “not responsible for [his] tastes or inclinations”.