A Wrecker of Civilization

So, I don't remember how we came upon it, but my partner and I ended up watching clips of Sasha Grey on the Tyra Show this past week. For those of you who don't know, Sasha Grey is a popular porn star and self proclaimed pervert and Tyra is a has been model who hosts her own talk show.

(Note that the video was edited by the Tyra Show and was posted on YouTube with commentary by an anti-pornography blog)

I know that pornography has a bad rep and its easy to say that its all degrading and disempowering to women, but I have to disagree. Now, this is all a huge generalization, because I know that there is some degrading porn out there (where you can tell that the-usually the female-performer is not enjoying the scene), but you can't simply judge all pornographic material because of a few bad apples.

Before I go on I realize that I'm terribly biased. Because:
1. I cannot stand Tyra. She is often very biased-if she does not agree with you, she makes it clear. She talks over guests quite often and equally as often she puts words in their mouths or belittles them.
2. I really respect Sasha and enjoy a lot of her work.

Although Tyra dwelled on Sasha's age, I believe she said she was nineteen at this time, Tyra didn't take in mind the level of maturity and intellect that Sasha possessed. Sasha knew what she was doing when she entered the porn industry.

I think Sasha is a good example of an empowered women in pornography. She enjoys what she does and she finds pleasure in many non conventional ways. In an interview with Bizarre Magazine she talks about everything from anal sex to puke play to BDSM(bondage/discipline/sadomasochism). I think that her lack of shame regarding her sexuality is what I really respect the most.

"Shame is bad because it inhibits you," she says. "It's fear. I'm not gonna sit here and say I'm not afraid of certain things in our society sometimes, but we live in such a fear-based society, people are really afraid to be who they are. Whether it's because of what somebody else thinks or the culture around them. Shame stops your personal growth."
-A Women's Lib Discussion

I think that all humans, not just women, would be happier if we stopped worrying about what is normal or expected of us and just acted on what we want. And although I think pornography is a safe place to vicariously live out your fantasies without any judgment from a partner, we still shouldn't be afraid of self-exploration or experimentation.

Taking a Stand by Sitting Down

Though it's wonderful to hear about all people taking a stand, creating a buzz and being passionate about a cause in their communities, it seems to me even more extraordinary when those people are very young.


Will Phillips is a ten year old boy from Arkansas. He has refused to recite the Pledge of Alligence because as Will said “I really don't feel that there's currently liberty and justice for all.” He was speaking about the limited rights of the LGBT community-particularly in respect to marriage. He faced much bullying at school due to the fact that he made a stand for gay rights, but he is a strong willed individual who is continuing to remain seated and sticking to what he beileves is right.


This story really warmed my heart because he wasn't reciting a script handed to him by his parent, he was speaking out on his own. For anyone to recognize injustices and have the courage to speak up about them is beautiful. And I think Will is a great role model for other youngsters in America.

You can read more about his story here.

The Word of the Day is "Rape"

Now, I understand that language changes and evolves over time-words gain new(/mulitple) meanings or lose meanings. But I have noticed a trend that I find particularly unsettling: The "new" use of the word rape.

When trying to find a seemingly non-existent song, I noticed this comment on the page I was searching:





This person uses the term rape to mean "to exceed"/"to be superior to"/"to conquer". And while the common definition of rape is a. any act of sexual intercourse that is forced upon a person or b. an act of plunder, violent seizure, or abuse; despoliation; violation, which goes along the same lines of conquering a persons personal space/privacy through force, the main difference between the use in the example (comment above) and the dictionary definition is connotation.

Whereas the dictionary definition is a very negative view of rape (or our social view- as far as I understand), the "new" usage seems to view "rape" as an achievement of power over someone or something else/something to be celebrated or praised.

I personally think that our language is just a reflection of how we think, and as new ideas and inventions/technology arise, we create new words for them. But we are still more reluctant to change the language that is already set, even when our society does change.

How much do you think language plays into how people think? Or how much do you think how people think shapes our language? Does giving a word like rape a definition as something to be admired create a social consciousness of acceptance of the word and perhaps make the action seem less bad?