Exclusive Interview with Former Genre Editor Neal Boulton

Though MANHUNT is primarily considered a "gay site," rest assured that we don't forget about all the sexy bisexual men out there. In honor of them, we couldn't think of a better person to interview than Neal Boulton, former Genre Magazine editor and BastardLife.com founder. The married father of two chatted with us about everything from telling his daughter bedtime stories to telling bitchy bloggers to literally "suck it."

Read our interview below:

The
gay blogs have been clamoring about Genre folding. What are your
thoughts on the end of this era?

The era hasn't ended. Genre will be back.
Just stay tuned.

Why did you wind up leaving your post as Editor-in-Chief?

I wrote my own screenplay about a boy who rides across country on a motorcycle to rescue his long-lost childhood
friend and first love called Triumph Across America. That screenplay
was just bought as a novel, my first, and it's due July 1. The pressure
of the writing and editing deadlines for my book really required me to
focus 100% on it. That's rare for me. I used to oversee 16 magazines, each
in a different city, so I lived on a plane. Not to mention that I was on The
Today Show 13 times, The View, Anderson Cooper, CNN… my life was
insane. So it was wild to just be sitting still and alone in my writing office.
[Laughs]

Certain gay media sites have villainized Avalon Equity's
David Unger to an almost cartoonish level. What's up with that?

You know, I've worked with Tina Brown, Bonnie Fuller, David Pecker, Isolde
Motley, all of these larger than life magazine people, and they too were
villainized by the media columnists. When you are a CEO, heading up
a public company like Time, Inc. or a major Editor In Chief—nothing
you do is personal. It's business, and sometimes capitalism just ain't
pretty.

You've dealt with some criticism yourself
within the blogosphere. Do you read all the stuff people write about
you?

Sure, I read it. But hell, I've flaunted my sexuality my entire life. In
elementary school, I bragged to all of the girls (just to make them giggle) that I liked this guy in my 5th grade classroom, Matt Bruns. They had no idea that I really meant by it… as in, Matt and I were always "playing doctor" after school in the woods. [Laughs] I've also made it no secret that I love sex—writing about it, reading about it and having a lot of it. Though given what I do for a living, I hadn't anticipated just what the blogs could do to you. I mean, yeah I've left a lot of roadkill out there—but the blogs welcomed all of my exes to get their last bitter "Fuck you for going back to her or him!" or "How dare you make out with another
chick right on my block!" kind of thing. Claire [Boulton's wife] and I have lived a very David Bowie life, and I think that makes you a target for the press. But hey, we put ourselves out there, and we give as good as we get.

Who would you personally like to tell to "suck it?" And not in the fun
way. Think Tina Fey's speech at this year's Golden Globes.

Oh honey, I would much rather tell someone to suck it and actually have them suck it than waste my time with journalists who write negative things
about me. The thing is… while the writers write and the commentators comment, I'm laughing all the way back to bed with someone hot every night.

Enough about the haters in blog land and beyond! You
made your own venture into blogging a while back. How's the "Bastard
Life" treating you?

Claire and I are having a great time with BastardLife. It's sort of like our radio show where we get to share all the advice and life lessons we've learned from decades of being together and having hundreds of amazing sexual adventures. People at the PTA always ask us about it—whispering usually.

What's your favorite thing about blogging over print publishing?

OMG, my favorite thing is the pace. I used to love cocaine, but why bother when… I mean, if one of my editors or writers says something about their night, their
boyfriend, a story or a letter, ten minutes later we can have something cool up on the site that will get 5-10K people reading it. That's a killer rush.

Least favorite?

My least favorite thing is that I'm sort of stupid when it comes to computers. I'm still learning the terms that the younger people on my staff rattle off about. At the end of the day though, the content goes up, the traffic and ads go up and you know… it all works and everyone's happy.

Beyond the blog, you're working on a television show called BastardLife. Mind telling us a little about that?

A producer friend who's filmed me before had been asking us to do a show called BastardLife, so we said yes. We'll start filming April 26th in NYC and LA. Can't share the company behind it yet, but this kind of show is what they do well.
Funny thing is… they say it will be a combination of The Osbournes
and Ozzy and Harriett. I asked if I could be Harriett.

Last time I checked, your marriage with Claire is monogamous. How
do you feel about cynics who claim that bisexuals can't truly live a
life of monogamy and love?

Well, Claire and I are indeed monogamous, but we probably define that different than most. In our case as a bisexual couple, anything goes—as long as we're together. We've lived a million lives in our 18 years, and we hope to continue on. When we got married, we said we'd just figure it out as we went along. We had no role models, and everyone said we'd be divorced within two years. Thank god we didn't know how fucked up it
can get when you are in a bi open marriage and all of it. There is no way we would have walked down that aisle. But thank god we did walk, because we are bi, in love, and it just sort of works for us. Besides, Claire makes a great husband.

What are your thoughts on closeted bi (or pansexual) guys who
cheat on their wives with other men?

I have always felt badly for those guys. It almost makes me feel guilty for being able to have two amazing children (whose best friends are the kids of same sex marriages), a bi wife who lets me do whatever I want in exchange for her freedom and
this life I have now as a book author and TV producer. I founded BastardLife so that folks everywhere could be part of a guilt-free, nonjudgmental chat about bisexuality and polyamory. The letters we get at the site are from gay men who are sleeping with women but can't tell their gay friends, married men and women who have open bi relationships that their neighbors don't know about and tons of women who just rock and roll a very open bisexual life and love the hot reads about what women want. It's like Claire always tells me, there
aren't enough numbers on the Kinsey scale to define us—or our readers.

With sites like MANHUNT, it's easy for men to meet other men for hot
hook-ups. Instant gratification! But what advice would you give to a
gay man whose feeling "reverse" bicurious and looking for a romp in the
sack with a woman?

My dirty little secret is that the more open I was about my sexuality—the more hot women let me take them to bed. [Laughs] There
are several online hookup sites for men who want women, but none have really come close to the success of the sites for gay men. But don't be fooled. As I've said on BastardLife, women can fuck just like men, be far more promiscuous and walk away without a care in the world. Just like a man. Trust me, I've benefited from many of them.

To top it all off, tell us something people wouldn't expect to hear
about you.

Well, let's see… after I write about the top ten tips to
anal sex or rimming, do a red carpet premiere, have dinner with Michael Lucas and my wife… I come home and read Mermaid bedtime stories to my daughter before I head to bed and return to the book I'm digging right now called–you'll laugh–Deflowered.