Jezebel 
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New York, 2:17 AM
Sun Nov 29
17 posts in the last 24 hours
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11/26/09
11/26/09
We always see women like her talking up porn...but I'd like to hear what her co-workers have to say about the empowerment they get from choking, dick-slapping, and other semi-violent acts done to her during a shoot. The enjoyment they got from peeing and jizzing on a woman's face.
Simply put...would we accept this if her male co-stars came out and said it empowered them and they felt it was sexy and ok to do this to a woman on camera?
Flip the perspective and it starts to get kind of horrifying.
11/27/09
11/25/09
Um, doesn't the idea that her morals should dictate "everyone's" behavior sort of contradict her primary point?
How about this: when you enter into a relationship with someone, make sure that their key values are at least mostly aligned with yours. Otherwise, there will be lying, fights, and general unhappiness.
Granted, this attitude isn't as "sexy" as saying everyone should be able to have affairs with impugnity and those who disagree with that dictate are backwards prudes, but it does make a lot more sense.
You'd think that Sasha Grey would see the attitudes leveled at her and those in her profession and adopt a more "live and let live" approach to judging relationships. Instead, she has the same black-and-white views as the mainstream, just in the opposite order.
11/26/09
Don't you want to be cultured like Sasha Grey?!
11/26/09
It's we've set up France as Le Cheatopia, where hookers, mistresses, and toyboys are a regular part of the family!
11/27/09
11/27/09
But then, I blame them for everything.
11/25/09
11/25/09
I personally found her to sound pretty immature and naive. Granted, she's got some interesting ideas but they're not fully formed or rather accessible in my opinion. If anything, I feel like some of the ideas she presented were fed to her from the porn industry. She came across as very defensive (completely understandable) and young.
I don't mean to lambaste her but I don't think she's in the position to be expressing her opinions on a wide range of subjects when it seems like she has very little experience or knowledge outside of her work.
11/25/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
This doesn't sound like me to even be critiquing someone's opinion. I hear this as questioning her right to have opinions and talk about them.
11/25/09
11/25/09
11/26/09
11/27/09
And yes, I respect the opinions of people who can tell me WHY they like the new Julian Casablancas album more than people who cannot. That is why music criticism exists!
11/25/09
No offense to you other, perhaps more mature youngsters. There's just a baseline know-it-allness that indicates a certain need to grow up a little. Or a lot.
Young =/ immature, but you catch the drift...
11/26/09
Now, I won't say if I was such a one, but I will tell you that I'm really glad that online journals weren't around when I was that age. No, I got to burn my diaries before anyone saw them!
11/26/09
I don't begrudge her a moment in the sun. I think she is lovely, and actually, she shows a great work ethic. But her philosophical posturing points to a bit of a lapse between how things are, and how she thinks things should be.
(I'd bet the family farm that most political and showbiz wives do NOT assume affairs a) will happen and b) be okay cuz the wife is "gettin' hers" materially.)
She's not DANGEROUSLY stupid, or a liar, or even a threat to anything I hold dear, so I'm happy to see her out there testing her ideas on the cold, unfriendly world (she will see just how unfriendly it may be when she gets to, say, Jenna Jameson's age). But I'm also happy to think, OH YOU KID!
She's a knockout who is fascinating to people in the straight world, including straight reporters who like to tap on the glass to see if this exotic bird can talk. Lo and behold--she does! And at great length! But for all this self-awareness, she seems oblivious to the appropriateness of people objecting to things she does (sorry, kid, it's the price you pay for controversial work!), and even to the basic construct of her business, which is part and parcel of the patriarchal sexual construct--she's the "whore" in the virgin/wife/whore girl triptych, and while that may seem like a way to game the system, it is still very much being part of the system.
I've been there (though not on video, thank freakin' god--for me *and* the viewing public), and it looks very very different as you work your way through the adult biz career arc.
But hey, better her talkin' than Carrie "I want it both ways!" Prejean. Any old time!!!
11/25/09
(Again, this is my take on this--just to pre-empt the people who were annoyed at me for defending Jenna in the Oprah thread.)
11/25/09
As a comparison, I've read/seen interviews with Nina Hartley where she's just as articulate and knowledgeable, but funny and likable and open and doesn't take sex/porn too seriously, just saying "just be smart and have fun!"
11/25/09
Which is more than you can say for most people.
#tips
11/25/09
She seems (sadly) uneducated and immature (based on this interview and others I've seen).
11/25/09
Oh and I'm a secular humanist.
But fucking for money on camera still doesn't sit right with me.
I won't throw stones but I also won't accept it as "normal". Human sexuality is too complicated to just package it like a product.
11/25/09
Exactly. Took the words straight out of my mouth. Using your sexuality/femininity/whatever as means to make a living is not empowering in my book whatsoever.
11/25/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
Something that should be free and natural?
I don't know.
#tips
11/25/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
I sincerely doubt that the men who get off on watching a girl being suffocated by a penis are thinking "wow, that is so empowering for her."
I find it confusing that modern feminism argues that objectifying ourselves is a good answer to being objectified by men. Or that by hurting ourselves, we are pre-empting others who wish to hurt us.
Maybe that's just me being stupid, I don't know...
11/25/09
Far, far less so with smeared mascara, watery eyes and making noises like someone who is being choked.
11/25/09
Maggie's a friend of mine. She's a sex worker and an HIV specialist. Pretty much one of the most badass women I'm privileged to know. She writes a lot about her perceptions of the sex industry in this country - if you're interested, it's totally worth a look.
11/25/09
I like what she is saying here for the most part and chalk up some of her gaffes to naivete.
11/25/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
She did totally get it wrong with the "Before Christianity and Catholicism took over most people were in poly-amorous relationships" bit and I am an expert on sex and sexuality through history (everyone has to have their niche?).