Questions and Answers

Sasha Grey has been an incredible influence, don’t you think?

As a true child of the internet age, her influence is deep rather than wide. Jenna Jameson was more of a household name at her DVD-powered peak, while Hugh Hefner and —I’m being generous here— Larry Flynt kept entire generations buying magazines and hiring attorneys.

Sasha matters because of who she influenced —young women— and the way she did it— by being intentionally, enthusiastically nasty. She took things like drool and degradation and violence —things young girls have always experienced in isolation and silence, with no sense of self-determination involved— and turned them into a sexual skillset and an expression of autonomy.

So while I’m not sure she’s going to enjoy being permanently 20 in the eyes of the masses, she’s going to be an important figure for many years to come.