How To Date a Porn Star For Under 10 Bucks
 |
| Sasha Grey, porn star, plays Chelsea, prostitute. |
The date probably won't end as well as you might hope, but you'll still have a pretty interesting night.
Steven Soderberg's newest movie, The Girlfriend Experience, is finally coming to at least one South Florida theatre. The film, about a young high-priced prostitute in New York around the time of the economic collapse last Fall, stars AVN female performer of the year Sasha Grey, whom Rolling Stone calls the "dirtiest woman in porn."
So for the price of a movie ticket, you too can experience a date with America's most outspoken porn star.
I spent an afternoon with Grey last month when she was in town for Exxxotica, and we discussed - among other things - the new movie, her relationship, and why she got into the porn business. (You can also read about what Grey told me she thinks of feminism and working with Soderberg here and here.)
The movie is a short (about 79 minutes) series of isolated scenes from the life of Chelsea (played by Grey) as she deals with clients who want to give her financial advice, critics who want to rate her sexual skills, a journalist who might exploit her, other prostitutes who judge her, and her boyfriend, who doesn't know if he can date her anymore.
I asked Grey how she was able to balance a relationship with her work in adult film.
 |
"In the beginning, it was hard because I had to find time to schedule sex," Grey said. "But For the past two years it hasn't been like that, it was basically just the first three months we adjusted to that. And it was about being open and communicating your wants and desires, whether they're on camera or off camera, with the person you're with."
Soon, she says, she and her boyfriend Ian (who I also met) fell into a regular routine that worked. I asked if it was hard to deal with emotionally.
"You learn to deal with that or you don't deal with it. But I think that's any relationship, whether youre dealing with sex, emotions, or anything: what kind of car you wanna buy, what kind of dog you want."
Grey is - in addition to being one of the world's most popular porn stars, known for her affinity for some of the most hardcore interactions - very thoughtful. While she is a bit distant (especially around reporters, she told me), she is frank and introspective.
She says she really likes sex, but isn't sex addict: "I've met sexually compulsive people. I've met sex addicts. And I keep it in my pants if I have to. I'm not gonna see someone--" she pointed to stranger, "and say, 'oh he has a cute face. I'm gonna go fuck him after this.' That's what somebody who's a sex addict would do. They sexualize everything they see."
When I asked if she was rationalizing what she does, for money, she snapped back. "I don't feel I'm rationalizing. I never said I'm not trying to make money. Part of my mission statement when I got in was to be a commodity, to fulfill my sexual desires, and to encourage other people. It was all-encompassing, one decision. I've never pretended I'm not doing this for money.
"At the end of the day, you get into the adult business and you've gotta like what you do. As a performer, you don't make that much money. Yeah, for somebody my age, it's a good living--it definitely is. But for the amount of work you do, you look five years down the road and you project what you've done, how much you've done, and how much you've taken it, it's not a lot. Not for the amount of work you put into it. Given that people work hard and theyre passionate about what they do."
The same could be said for her character in the Soderberg movie. In the middle of a financial meltdown, Chelsea wants to expand. One client tells her about all the additional money she could make with a book, a better web site, etc. In that way, Grey says, she and Chelsea are very similar.
"Everybody wants to expand and make money, unless youre a true beatnik," she told me, "and I haven't been meeting too many true beatniks these days."
Write Comment
Email to Friend
Print Article
