Bruce LaBruce on Gen Z, GHB, and Double Penetration

Bruce LaBruce has a good story about double penetration, he told me on a call last month. The trailblazing filmmaker, pornographer, and provocateur was on the set of his 2010 gay porno L.A. Zombie when he told the crew to “get ready for the DP.” His director of photography, a straight man who didn’t know any better, perked up. “He learned quickly,” LaBruce joked. The Toronto-based artist, who’s successfully blurred the lines between art and smut by bringing his distinctive eye to the oft-derided genre of pornographic films, now has a new book out with a characteristically sexy title: The Revolution Is My Boyfriend. Inside are photographs and stills spanning LaBruce’s remarkable career, from his films No Skin Off My Ass and Gerontophilia to his imaginative portraits of skaters and skinheads living life on the fringes. To mark its release, we tapped LaBruce for this week’s Rorschach Test, in which he sounds off on Pride Month, steam rooms, campus protests, and his “deep sexual fetish for rough trade.”

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THE 2024 ELECTION

“It’s a weird spectacle, the battle of the geriatrics and the grumpy old men. But there’s no Ann-Margret to spice it up, unfortunately.”

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GEN-Z

“I think Gen Z gets a bad rap. In fact, as a gay man of a certain age, I have to tell you that it’s much easier for me to get laid with a Gen Z-er than with somebody in their 30s or 40s or 50s. I find them to be more open-minded and not so uptight about a lot of shit.”

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GHB

“I was never a fan of that drug. I was much more into K and meth, of course.”

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JUDITH BUTLER

“She threw down the gauntlet with the idea of gender performativity, and that’s become the standard of non-binary, queer expression now. But I’m a recovering academic and have been for a long time. I decided very adamantly to abandon academics for the obvious reasons that people cite. So this is nothing against Judith Butler specifically, but I always glaze over when people go into hyper-academic mode and vocabulary.“

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CAMPUS PROTESTS

“I’m all for it, because anything that gets people away from the narcissistic attachment to their cell phones and has them actually talking to each other face to face in a real life context has to be healthy.”

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MADONNA

“The premiere of her Madame X documentary was in some ornate theater on 42nd Street. I got on the guest list because I know Steven Klein. I was just like, I’ve got to meet her. She was sitting in a banquette and there was a gap in the security and I tapped Steven on the shoulder like, “Could you introduce me to Madonna?” He rolled his eyes and then whispered into her ear for about 45 seconds, explaining who I was. She looked at me and I shook her hand and said, Hi, Madonna. You’re amazing. That’s good enough for me.“

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CONDOMS

“My favorite condom scene is in Looking For Mr. Goodbar, one of my top 10 favorite movies of all time, when Diane Keaton finds out that William Atherton is trying to put on a condom when he’s trying to fuck her. She bursts out laughing and goes, ‘Who is this supposed to protect? You or me?’ Then she blows it up like a balloon.”

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X (TWITTER)

“Well, Twitter is really good for me because I tend to be really pithy and I can express myself in 140 characters quite well. I was never into the bird imagery. I found it a bit infantile. But I hate the name change.”

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DOUBLE PENETRATION

“I have a good story about double penetration. I was working with a straight cinematographer who was shooting one of my porn films. I think it was L.A. Zombie. We were shooting a gay sex scene and I announced to the crew, Let’s get ready for the DP. And my cinematographer goes, I’m right here! He learned quickly.”

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STEAM ROOMS

“I was a total sauna queen for many, many years. I could never really pick up anyone at gay bars. I don’t have that social facility or grace. But I could always fuck the hottest guys in a sauna. It’s a different world with different rules, complete hedonism and sexual expression.”

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TRADE

“One of my first boyfriends was a hustler and he put me through hell. He was mostly straight. I would show up for a date with him and he’d have his girlfriend with him and he took great pleasure in tormenting me, which of course made me forever have a deep sexual fetish for rough trade.”

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PRIDE

“I’ve never been a pride queen. I was always more way into shame. I’m a messy gay. I’m a gay slob. I can’t whip up a costume out of glitter and old satin sashes.”

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GAY-BAITING

“I find it annoying and irritating. It’s just blatant, late-capitalist exploitation of subcultures. It doesn’t really strike me as very authentic.”

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STREAMING

“I just watch everything illegally. And it should all be free, anyway. These corporate entities don’t need to be exploiting people for their hard-earned pennies.”

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CENSORSHIP

“I think the worst censorship going on now is pre-censorship and self-censorship. It’s one of the malaises of the social media era. It’s all part of the infantilization, which is my pet peeve of modern pop culture. Adult material is out of favor.”

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FIRE ISLAND

“For me, it’s still a mythic place where Wakefield Poole’s Boys In The Sand was shot. I see it more in my pornographic imagination.”

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CAMILLE PAGLIA

“She is an amazing lesbian academic. She’s one of those academics who actually practices what she preaches and doesn’t get bogged down in all that sophistry and academic vocabulary. I’m down with Camille.”

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JULIA FOX

“I read her memoir, Down The Drain, and it’s such a great read. I don’t think it’s ghostwritten. It’s well-written and it’s in her voice, you can tell. She got her nipples pierced when she was 12 and was hanging out with the most crazy gangsters in New York. But she pulled it all together and she’s really smart.”

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DOUCHING

“I hate people who shame you when there’s an accidental mudslide. I’ve seen a lot of douching as a pornographer and everyone has their own technique. For some people it takes a long time and you have to wait on set, but you really don’t want anal leakage in your porn film.”

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PAUL MORRISSEY

“I love that Paul Morrissey is a Republican. That really endears me to him. When he made Women In Revolt, which is my favorite Warhol film, he was doing a satire on women’s liberation, but it’s a thoroughly feminist film. I love that he doesn’t even realize that his movies promote everything he probably stands against.”

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