perceptions and experiences

been calling Cosby a rapist for 10 years and people look at me like I'm the bad dude

The coffee shop he had suggested we meet at was full, so Tucker Max and I ended up settling in for beers next to a pool table at the back of a dark dive bar off Ninth Avenue. "I'm almost 40 years old, and even to this day I'll meet someone and they'll be like, don't understand. Why aren't you drunk and screaming curses at people? he said. "I'm like, it's 10:30 in the morning at Whole Foods. These debased accounts of Max alcohol fueled sexual conquests became required reading (or hate reading) for a certain generation, selling millions of copies and turning Max into both a villain and hero, depending on whom you ask.

Nowadays, Max has grown up a lot he has a fiance and a baby son and has publicly retired from the fratire genre to concentrate on a spate of entrepreneurial ventures (plus the occasional ill advised publicity stunt), including a new publishing start up called Book in a Box, which is ostensibly what we were meeting to talk about. Yet retirement aside, Max still has plenty of thoughts about the stories that made him famous. Salon spoke to Max about the pervasive influence of his books, allegations of misogyny (false, he claims) and the narrative about sexual assault in media today. In Tucker's opinion, any enmity that feminists might have toward him is misplaced. Let's all go after the real bad guys. engaged now and you're a father, so that a long way from the Tucker Max we once knew.

People have this vision of me from the books, and that's all true, but it's this tiny slice of my life that was a certain period of my life. All true, all fun, all amazing, but imagine if the only thing people knew about you was stuff you did in the bathroom? I don't talk about this huge other swath of stuff in my life because it's not funny or interesting. I mean, it is to me. I have a great, amazing fiance and a wonderful kid who's healthy and happy but there's nothing to write about that.

Some of the things I've read, recent interviews I've done, it's like, "Tucker Max, reformed!" Are you reformed or are you just retired?

I wasn't deformed; I didn't need to reform. I was a young dude who did a lot of stupid, ridiculous things like most young guys do. I'm just the one who wrote it all down and turned it into a big thing. There was nothing for me to reform. Drinking and hooking up and being an idiot, if you keep doing it for 30 Authentic T.J. Ward Jersey years that's like you go through your 20s, you do it, you have a great time, and then you get bored of it because at some point it gets boring, and you go do other things.

A lot of people have called your books misogynistic. Do you think that any of those criticisms are legitimate?

Well, a lot of people don't find that. There are a small minority of people who see everything through that lens. That's just how they see the world, as a battle of the sexes and male oppression or misogyny or whatever. That's how they approach the world. The reality is, more than half my fans are women and women aren't stupid. If my stuff was misogynist, then millions of women would not buy my books. In fact, the people who call me a misogynist, it's more guys than girls, usually, and it's the type of guys who think they can impress the type of women who say everything is misogyny.

I guess some would say that objectifying women and using the terms "slut" and "whore," as you do constantly in your books, is pretty offensive.

Who do you think does more slut shaming, men or women? You should actually look at the research on this. There's actually a ton of empirical research, there's some really good academics doing a lot of work on this. Most slut shaming is female female. I like women who want to have sex; that's great. A dude who wants to hook up with women, if he's not sex positive that guy is a fucking moron. I couldn't even imagine being like, "I want to sleep with you but I'm going to call you a slut and make you feel bad about having sex." What? How stupid is that? Even from a functional perspective, that's like the dumbest thing I could imagine.

I feel like the media climate has changed a lot since 2006. Do you think a book like yours would find as big an audience now as it did then?

My books still sell crazy numbers. Look, when looking at my material you have to understand and this is not a thing I just say, you can look at pictures online of any book signing I've done hundreds and thousands of people show up. The line is usually more than half that. Either all those women are stupid or my stuff just doesn't involve any of these nonsense ideas.

They want to use me as a straw man for them to attack to make themselves look good and position their status. I am anti misogyny, and so I become the straw man.

You videotaped yourself Aqib Talib Jersey having anal sex with a girl without her consent. Is that something you regret? Is that something you wouldn't do today?

Look, that act is clearly it's indefensible.

Have I ever said I've never done anything that I regret? Of course, if someone did that to someone I cared about I'd be really pissed off at them. The point isn't that I've done everything right in my life. No one would read my shit if it was, "Hey, everything I've done is amazing and right." The funny thing is, you don't ask me anything about my content, you only ask me about the narrative that other people have pushed on it. You don't say, "Tell me about dudes whose lives you've changed; tell me about people who love your stuff, or the entertainment they've gotten," or "Let's talk about your work."

Why don't you even ask why millions of women buy my books? Why don't you ask any of the women who buy my books and love them and take positive messages from them?

So many women have told me they love my stuff because seeing anyone unapologetically do the things they want to do and be the person they want to be is inspiring, just like Chelsea Handler is inspiring to a lot of women or Sarah Silverman is inspiring to a lot of women. Women can have male and female role models, right?

The genre you helped create is called A lot of your fans are frat boys or guys in a frat culture, and especially in the past few years we have seen a lot of things come to light about fraternity culture, especially in terms of violence against women.

They're horrible places. I wasn't even in a frat; I'm totally on board. Frats have been horrible places for decades; they should be burned down, most of them. Totally on board, but that has nothing to do with me. I wasn't in a frat, I don't speak for Womens Aqib Talib Jersey frats.

That said, do you have any thoughts on how administrations should be policing sexual assault on campus? There was an article in Rolling Stone read that. The UVA one? That doesn't shock me at all, UVA has a fucked up culture. Look, my view is not really a popular one Louis Vasquez Jersey on either side. I think the Greek system is stupid and fucked up. I don't think the Greek system is actually at fault, though; I think it just exacerbates existing problems at certain schools; eliminate the Greek system and I don't think anything really changes. I don't think colleges should be in the business of adjudicating felonies. When you sexually assault someone, that's a fuckin' felony, and the full force of the law should come at you.

But a lot of young men see you as a role model and see your stories as something to aspire to, in the sense of viewing women as sex objects to be conquered

Stupid, I agree. It doesn't help men or women.

You know what actually makes me laugh? There's a couple times in the book where I talk about drinking and driving, which is fucking terrible. Drinking and driving kills motherfuckers, that's awful shit. No one's Womens T.J. Ward Jersey ever said shit about that! That was one of the things I was anxious to put in there; it was the truth, but fuck, it was really stupid and I shouldn't have done it. I thought for sure I'd get all kinds of shit for that but no one's ever said a word!

I asked you if you felt like you had regrets or if you felt like you had reformed, and be honest. I've changed a lot but I don't know how Womens Louis Vasquez Jersey much my opinions have really, fundamentally changed. What's really changed about me is just that I've grown up and matured. I was an immature 20 year old like most guys are, and I think, for the most part, I've become a fully formed adult. I've developed the sort of emotions and perceptions and experiences that come with adulthood. I will die where I stand before I ever repent for things I've done; I hate that. I don't have anything to repent for.

I don't want to say I'm proud of getting drunk and throwing up on myself and falling down and hooking up a bunch but I'm very proud of what I did with it. I'm very proud that I created a literary genre out of it and that I sold millions of books and that I improved the lives of tens of millions of people.

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