image by Geof Teague

While we’re big, longtime fans of BUTT, we often find our sexual tastes at odds with the artsy magazine. The feeling is mutual. When we’re masturbating to big-budget firefighter orgies, BUTT writers are masturbating to pictures of pasty art fags ejaculating onto Federico Garcia Lorca poetry anthologies. And we gagged when the magazine’s blog called the Portland Mayor’s Little Fuckbitch “ridiculously hot.” No, BUTT. Beau Breedlove is ridiculously busted.

In their latest interview, BUTT tries to understand the sexual tastes of “old white men in the Midwest,” which is how Ben Leon his porn-loving demographic. The interview is a discussion of archetypes, identification, genre and stoned guys in sneakers. The day after speaking with BUTT, Ben won multiple GayVN awards for his role in directing To the Last Man. Read the interview here. Highlights include:

BUTT: Let’s talk about the story you told me about the ex boyfriend you had who you surprised for his birthday by tying him up and driving him somewhere.

BEN LEON: Okay, well for his birthday I took him to the beach for a picnic dinner to watch the sunset. After dinner we walked back to the car and i put a pillow case over his head and tied his hands. I threw him in the backseat and drove around for a while implying I was gonna take him to Oakland. He was excited and nervous. I told him i had a few friends waiting for us … I took him to a basement where I had a hook hanging from the ceiling and a camera set up. I hung him from the ceiling and took off the pillow case. He had no idea where he was. Then I beat him a little and fucked him and recorded the whole thing.

BUTT: I really did like the one Cazzo did that copied the Homopunk magazine – all guys in weird bunny outfits and dresses with makeup on covered in food. It was super hot.

BL: Yeah but that stuff doesn’t sell very good. The more far out you go the less it sells.

BUTT: Well yeah some gay people stay the same but you have young gay people who aren’t easily divided into twinks, cowboys, bears, etc. I guess the fear for me is that people just won’t know that there’s more out there than what they see in porn and stay boring…

BL: Representation is a tricky subject and its also a two way street. People want to see themselves in what they watch but they also want to see things that push their boundaries. But when you are focused on selling a product you need to make a product that is widely identifiable. So the market demands that things stay on the tame side and on the familiar side while also pushing toward more extremes in  a very slow way…

BUTT: Oh give it to me! [The speech you give your models before filming a scene.]

BL: Have a good time, don’t do anything you’re not comfortable with, we can stop at any time for any reason, I edit everything I shoot so you can’t do anything wrong. I’m kinda quiet as a director. I let you find your groove and I move around a lot to get the shots.

BUTT: What’s the worst thing a model can do?

BL: The worst thing is give me a lot of attitude, and/or be prissy. The second worst things is not have a hard on.

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