The Daily Beast interviewed renowned male porn star James Deen, and discovered along the way that he “is a raging, hard-core libertarian, even if he doesn’t quite know it.”
Deen, like many other porn stars, is strongly opposed to laws that require adult film actors to wear condoms on-camera and receive regular testing. Los Angeles started mandating condoms in 2012. Deen argued that these laws are essentially a free speech violation to “moderate what you’re doing with your genitals,” which is “equivalent to violating performers’ civil rights.”
But, Daily Beast reporter Emily Shire discovered, Deen’s distaste for government regulation extended to much more than condoms. “Deen doesn’t just want the government to stay out of his pants; he wants it to stay out, period,” Shire observed.
Deen had particularly choice words for “Yes Means Yes” affirmative consent laws, like the one recently passed for colleges in California, which criminalize all sexual encounters that don’t involve explicit verbal consent: “That is the dumbest f—ing law I’ve ever heard of. We already have a law against rape. Just don’t f—ng rape people,” he said.
Although his mother apparently tried to sell him on the law by telling him about alleged rape cover-ups on college campuses, Deen replied, “We can’t throw a law at it and think it’s going to solve it.” Shire called his outlook “absurd.”
Even laws against texting and driving are too invasive for Deen: “We live in a terrorist country. I text and drive looking over my shoulder, not because I think it is morally wrong. It’s because I don’t want to get in trouble.”
But he is no fan of Rand Paul 2016: “I won’t vote for [Rand Paul] because I don’t vote for absurd people.”
Will Deen ever get involved in politics himself? Shire seems to think he would be a great fit, despite her evident disagreement with his views.
Read the full interview here.
