Wasn’t it Bailey who told us as much…

from www.examiner.com – Sasha Grey has been in a staggering 176 pornographic films since 2006. She has won four AVN awards and several other adult movie awards, including one for Female Performer of the Year and Mainstream Adult Favorite. She’s modeled for American Apparel and Richard Kern as a part of Vice magazine’s Anti-fashion layout. Most recently, she has starred in the experimental drama, The Girlfriend Experience, directed by Steven Soderburgh.

All this, and she’s only 21.

In a Rolling Stone article, journalist Vanessa Grigoriadis interviewed Grey in depth about her ambitions, her views on film and art, and her take on sexuality. Grigoiadis described her as “the smartest person I’ve ever met in that industry”. This statement is born from the fact that Grey does not listen to the radio, is friends with Billy Corgan (from the Smashing Pumpkins), and because she sites old French directors, like Jean-Luc Godard in everyday conversation.

This may definitely be a rarity in the porn industry, but out here “in the real world”, she seems like a normal 21 year old girl, who may be more interested in film history and artistic expression than painting her fingernails.

What is interesting about Grey, and controversial, is her choice of porn to act in. Her mission statement is:

Most of the XXX I see is boring, and does not arouse me physically or visually. I am determined and ready to be a commodity that fulfills everyone’s fantasies

Grey has done everything that a porn star can do: Anal, threesomes, orgy’s, bondage, gang-bangs, S&M, and more, and identifies herself as a switch (someone who can be either dominant or submissive).

On a recent interview on The Tyra Banks show, Grey was scrutinized and patronized (of course, in a “I’m-only-trying-to-help-you kind of way) by the audience and Tyra for being in the porn industry at such a young age. Most of the conversation was about how most women in the adult entertainment industry have been sexually abused at one point in their life. Tyra believed that Grey had been abused because she wondered what other reason does someone have to be involved with porn. Sasha said she never had been an abuse victim, and professed that the reason that she started doing pornography was because she found most boring and wanted to explore herself through her films, sexually and artistically.

She believes what she is doing is feminist. Some people agree, while others scoff at how superficial that statement is. Personally, I believe she is a super pretty girl who is really good at porn, and maybe someone that would be cool to hang out with.

Grigoriadis, of Rolling Stone says:

To me, what’s most important about her is her impact on feminism. Porn has been one of feminism’s most divisive issues because it hits on such a raw level to so many woman. Here are the fantasies of men, and it’s of course better to live out those fantasies through pornography than to try to do them in the real world, but the fact is the real world is impacted by it. Grey says, ‘If you look at me and you think “Here’s a woman who’s intelligent, cognizant and making her own choices, and you still tell me that what I’m doing is wrong, screw you, because that should end the debate.