In Defense of Sasha Grey

I consider myself a concerned American.

I may not be concerned about the same things that you are, but I am still concerned.

I am not, for instance, concerned enough to want to “Keep Up With The Kardashians” (whatever the hell that really means), nor am I concerned enough with the world of auto-racing to put my favorite driver’s number on my automobile. Hell, I’m not even concerned enough with the world of sports to be able to tell you when either the Super Bowl or the World Series take place.

These things just don’t matter to me. I am not denigrating their importance in popular culture, just saying that I am not a part of those particular sects (the television-watchers and the sports fanatics).

I am concerned with bigotry, however. Bigotry and its ugly older brother, Prejudice. So it was with interest, then that I read the article (article) from the Associated Press in regards to Sasha Grey.

Speaking of things that I am concerned with, I am also wonderfully concerned with beautiful women and definitely concerned with the adult industry as a whole. For those of you unfamiliar (riiiiight) with Ms, Grey, and what she does, I will explain.

Sasha Grey is an ex (former) adult movie star. She left the adult film industry for reasons that are not really anyone’s business. The point is, she’s out. She’s not on camera having sex for money. She hasn’t been for two years.

So, being out of the adult film industry, she is now in the mainstream film industry. She’s “made the jump” as it were. She was in 2009’s “The Girlfriend Experience” (IMDB), and has had several roles on HBO’s Entourage (link). I would consider her a legitimate actress. Certainly at least as legitimate as Bronson Pinchot, or any other actor confined to the outskirts of the Hollywood film industry. She is at least as good an actress as Megan Fox (though I realize that isn’t saying much), and I think that she is far prettier and much more honest. At least in so far as she did things on camera for all to see, and no one ever has t wonder if she’s going to try and rekindle her fame with a “leaked” sex tape.

Now that we have established who she is, let’s talk about why people are up in arms about her recently. She went to Compton. She read to children. She went home.

Everybody freaked out.

Why, though? Why did everyone freak out?

Hipocrisy. Prejudice. Bigotry.

Those “Christian” values, those old biblical stand-bys.

Everyone was up in arms that a PORN STAR went and read to their children. But that’s all she did. At no point did she discuss her former or current profession. She didn’t expose herself. She simply read to children. None of the parents involved have offered to read in her place. None of the parents involved offered an alternative to her reading there. No one even protested it until after the fact.

And that’s where the hypocrisy comes in. She had sex. For money. For a living. That makes her a whore, right? If you’ve ever “put out” because it was “expected”, ever had sex with multiple partners (whether they were months apart or at the same time), had anal or oral sex, used a camera in your sex life (still frame or video, your choice), used an “adult massager” or had sex with someone who was not your permanent “life partner” through marriage or commitment, then you too are a whore.

Or, maybe you like to consider yourself a consenting adult. Is that term more comfortable for you?

I thought so. Have you considered the fact that Ms. Grey is a consenting adult, as well? She’s not going to pass a disease to your children. And as a matter of fact, if you are against the pornography industry, she serves as a shining example of someone who decided to “change their ways” and get into a “better” industry. Though I personally believe that there is nothing wrong with pornography, as long as all parties are of age and consenting.

Perhaps she SHOULD be reading to your kids. She’s not a hypocrite, and cared enough to take the time. She even reached out when she didn’t have to or need to. She could have very well left the whole idea on the shelf and not gone near these children. But who would have read to them? Apparently not their parents. None of them showed up. None of them volunteered.

As a matter of fact, George Bush was allowed to read to children in school at one point, and he’s responsible for the deaths of every service member that went to Iraq on an ill-advised and uninformed invasion. Some people consider him a murderer and a war criminal. No one complains when HE reads to children. Police officers have to kill people occasionally in the line of duty. Does their job mean that they can’t read to children? What about service members and/or veterans?

Perhaps we could take the job away from the intent, and realize that someone took the time out of their busy day to go to a school and promote literacy in an age where digital media is king, and empower small children with the magic of the written word. And what do the parents do? They complain about her FORMER profession.

On a related note, given their “values”, and their obvious disdain for pornography, how did they even know who she was? Certainly they would never admit to watching any of her films. Not given their values. Are the wives mad that their husbands fantasized about her? Perhaps that’s the real reason for the anger.

I am guilty of almost everything that I have written about in this blog, even reading to children.

I have had sex with more than one partner (sometimes at the same time). I have used adult toys; I have used both still and video cameras in the bedroom and have personally fantasized about Ms. Grey. I can honestly say that I don’t know an adult (straight) male that hasn’t been at least turned on by pictures or movies of her. As a former soldier, I have engaged the enemy and returned fire. I have shot people and may have even killed one or two. Yet I doubt anyone would object to me reading to a bunch of children. Doesn’t that make you a hypocrite?

Perhaps before we condemn people when they reach out, we should look at the real reasons we want to condemn. Is it jealousy, because you (or your wife) don’t look like her? Is it because you have an unreal fear that she could pass a disease on to your children even though she never touched one of them? Are you angry and irrational enough to believe that she may have risked exposing her body to a child? Or are you mad that she had sex for money, but are willing to allow someone who knowingly sent troops off to die take her place with your children?