Porn performer James Deen will not discuss his Canyons costar Lindsay Lohan. But he will discuss his experiences with gay sex, both onscreen—in Paul Schrader's aforementioned bizarrely mesmerizing and already-storied thriller—and in his real life. What does that say about a performer whose heterosexuality is a commodity that's sold countless straight porn movies, includingFarrah Abraham's "sex tape?"
It could very well be that he's simply as honest and straightforward as he claimed to be when I talked to him by phone a few weeks ago. Or maybe it's all a way for him to continue reveling in the "unlikely porn star" image that's paradoxically turned him into the porn star of the moment.
Or maybe we've just reached a point in society where our straight porn stars risk losing nothing (and maybe even stand to gain more fans) by revealing gay dabbling.
An edited transcript of my chat with Deen is below.Were you uncomfortable having to kiss another guy in this movie?
Not really. I've kissed other dudes in my life, so it's not really a big deal. I have this conversation a lot because there is still a lot of homophobia in the world and in adult films, when you're sharing a scene with another dude and a lady, sometimes certain things come up: gay this, gay that. The way I define gay or homosexuals is a sexual attraction to a member of the same sex. I fully believe that people can engage in any sort of activity. Like I hate basketball, but I've played basketball before and it doesn't make me a professional basketball player. That [gay-sex] scene was a very important part of the movie, because it kind of represents the power switch. I think Bret was really worried I wouldn't want to do it. It's part of the script. It's not like it's real life. I'm not shooting a porno where I have to get physically erect and have sex with a dude. I think it was kind of a weight off of everyone's shoulders that I wasn't going to create an issue with it.
Feel free to tell me to mind my own fucking business, but have you had sexual contact with a guy off screen?
Yeah, in my life when I was a kid. I feel like there is that college period in the majority of people's lives where they are getting to know themselves and they are experimenting with their sexuality and trying different things and having different thoughts and stuff like that. When I was younger, I think I was like 15 or something, I would have a moment where I was like, I don't know, maybe I like guys, maybe I like girls, what is life? I experimented and I never really… I'm not attracted to dudes. I kinda sometimes feel bad about that, I feel like I'm supposed to be because I hang out in San Francisco so much and people make me feel really bad for being a straight, white dude and I feel like I'm doing something wrong for being a straight white dude.
No, you're fine. You know, I'm gay, and I have to confess to not being entirely familiar with your porn work, so I don’t know if you’ll have an opinion about this or not: I think that double penetration, especially like two dicks in one hole is a real gay thing to do. You know, I mean you're using a hole basically to rub your dick against another guy's.
I think if you're using hole to rub your dicks against another guy's, then yeah, it's a pretty homosexual activity but [not] if you and another dude together are having sex with a girl. The difference between a homosexual D.P. and a straight D.P. is when I go up to a girl and I'm like, “Oh my god, I want to see you just be a dirty little slut and do all these filthy things, I would love you to fuck two cocks at the same time, that would be so fucking hot, I want to be in that fucking hole,” that's kind of a straight D.P. A gay D.P. is me going up to you and being like, “Hey bro, know what we should do? We should go find a girl and wrap her around our penises and rub our penises together. Let's go find a girl to D.P.” I feel like it’s the motivation.
I feel you.
Really, what it comes down to is that for every girl that likes it in the butt, there is a dude that likes it in the butt. And for every girl that doesn't like it in the butt, there is probably a gay man out there who doesn't like it in the butt.
Oh, I've met plenty of them.
Some people like it in the butt and some people don't. Just because some people like to put things in their butt, it doesn't make them gay; it doesn't make them not gay if they don't; it's just a sexual preference. There is a difference between wanting to feel something in my butt, and if that thing is phallic shaped it’s because that is what makes it feel good. If I want my female partner to do it, I feel like that's straight: You just like it in the butt. But if you go up and if you're like, “I want to have your male penis in my butt because I am attracted to you, the male that has ownership over that penis and I want you to put it in my butt…” [Deen cuts out in apparent call waiting interruption] Oh shit, I've got to…
So what you're saying is you like it in the butt?
Not personally. On that note, I actually have my next interview calling me right now so I have to take it.
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