Deen still isn’t exactly deep in his interviews. And that makes it all the more striking that he used an appearance on the Adam Carolla and Dr. Drew podcast, where he was promoting his role in Diminuendo, a non-pornographic film by recently-deceased director Richard Hatch, to speak out about business and cultural trends in porn, declaring, “It’s the first time in my entire career that I’ve ever had an ethical dilemma with what I do.”

He explained the crux of his concern in this exchange:

Deen: In the last 10 years we have had more free pornography at your fingertips than ever before, to a point where people are no longer learning about sexuality... This is something that is made for a purpose, this is not an example of what sex is, this is people having sex for entertainment. [It used to be that] you’re getting the tape from your older brother, who stole it from the dad, or the neighbor, or whatever. You’re passing it around and everyone is excited to see this magazine or whatever. And you have to wait until you are older to really dive deep into the dark areas where people are peeing on each other and [an even more graphic act] and all sorts of stuff. Now, a child, an 11-year-old child, anyone at any age could go to a myriad of places on the internet and be exposed to endless amounts of content. Dr. Drew: The average age of exposure now is eight or nine. Deen: Which is not okay! Granted, I’m sure there is an 8- or 9-year-old in existence of all time who was able to deal with what that content was. But I would say very confidently that 8- or 9-year-olds are not able to properly process what this is. Especially when it’s not just, “Here are two people kissing and some standard sex.” It’s some crazy stuff. And I think now that people… they are getting their sexual education and stuff, and I’m sure it’s better—or so I’ve been told by people who have kids—it’s better than it was when I was a kid, but they’re still seeing these examples, regularly, for years and years and years, of what they believe to be sex.

This relatively common concern is noteworthy not only because Deen is a prominent figure in pornography, but because he came to his concern so radically differently than other industry critics: by having sex with lots of women across age cohorts.

There are differences, he posited early in the interview in an uncomfortable passage describing moments of visceral discomfort that some of his co-stars have felt:

I’ve been paying attention to consistencies and behavior with the younger models that I work with. And intimacy almost is uncomfortable for them. I’ll do scenes, and I’ll like grab the girl and like kiss her, or be like, “Look me in the eyes,” and it will almost be like, “No no no no no, I just spread my legs; use my hole and blow a load in my face.” But no, that’s not sex.

Given the allegations against Deen, one cannot just presume that the words he puts in the mouths of his co-stars are accurate renderings of their feelings, but here is his reaction:

That is a certain type of pornography, and if that is the kind of scene we’re doing, then we can do it. But there’s companies like X-Art and Erotica X and Passion HD and all these companies that have built their demographic on reality sex—you know, intimacy—and not just, like, the more gonzo type ... which, I was saying, that’s more of the porno style.

Adam Carolla pressed for an explanation. “Do you think that some of these younger women who you’re working with, do you think the idea of being caught on film or digitally and living forever on the internet, being intimate with somebody is a tougher pill to swallow than having sex with somebody?” he asked. “Like really being intimate?”