Stephen Fry says he feels sorry for straight men because women only want sex in order to have a relationship.

The gay broadcaster and writer, speaking to Attitude magazine, said that women want commitment and if they wanted sex as much as men, there would be straight cruising areas.

He said: “I think most straight men feel they disgust women. They find it difficult to believe that women are as interested in sex as they are. For good reason. If women liked sex as much as men there would be straight cruising areas in the way there are gay cruising areas.

“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. They want a boyfriend and then they want commitment.

“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?

“Gay men are the perfect acid test. If they want to get their rocks off, they go into a park where they know they can do it.”

Fry said that he did not go cruising, but dabbled with cottaging in his youth.

But he added: “I was scared stiff if anyone did actually shove a knob through the partition. Agh! What’s that?”

Fry also said that he was not surprised about media interest in his private life

“It’s absolutely inevitable,” he said. “It’s just so unfortunate for people who are close to me and obviously particularly for my partner because it’s something he¹s going to have to get used to and I’m going to have to prepare him for.”

This month’s Attitude also features 66 unsung gay role models, including police officers, gardeners, activists and soldiers.

The list includes serving soldier Carl Barnes, landscape gardener Ian Drummond, Mission Malawi HIV activist Les Pratt and PinkNews.co.uk founder and Channel 4 correspondent Benjamin Cohen.