Sasha Grey, whose real name is Marina Hantzis, was born and raised in Sacramento, California.
Grey was raised in a Catholic home. When asked if her parents were upset about her decision to go into porn, she said:
Oh yeah, the old Irish family? Definitely. It's so weird though, because my mum is very Catholic and has all these morals and ideals, but she is also very liberal… which fits perfectly with Catholicism.[1]
I'm not quite sure how that all fits with Catholicism, perhaps Grey can give us her theological explanation someday. Why not? She doesn't mind waxing theological about Jesus. She said:
There is a man that helped people and made them feel great… his name was Jesus… but I don't believe that he was a fully white man and I don't believe that he's looking down upon us.[2]
So it's safe to say that Grey doesn't subscribe to standard Christian beliefs, but it appears to go much farther than that. According to Grey's Myspace page[3] and various Twitter messages,[4] she is an atheist.
Beyond that, Grey has used her sex goddess status to strike back at Puritanical American standards of sexual propriety, saying it's "OK to be a slut."[5]
Take that, you religious prudes.
Just move a little bit to the left
Grey doesn't seem to be your average porn actress–unless most of them are left-leaning and liberal. Oh, wait. But she does exhibit an uncharacteristic knowledge of the issues and a willingness to take a stand. She came out in favor of national health care, for example,[6] saying:
It's been a century since Teddy Roosevelt called for health care reform. The American people expect and demand a change and action from Congress.[7]
She also made a short film in favor of equal pay for women, illustrating rather graphically that porn is one of the only industries where women can make more than men. Plus, Grey used her porn-star hotness to plug spaying and neutering your pets for PETA, with the clever quip: "Too much sex can be a bad thing, have your cats and dogs spayed or neutered."[8]
Grey appears to be honestly unashamed of her role in the adult film industry and has found a way to segue it into promoting (mostly liberal) issues that she cares about. Nothing wrong with that. Work it if you've got it, right?
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