8 Ways Stoya Is Redefining Porn

4. She Engages In Self-Love (Literal And Otherwise)

There's an unfortunate stereotype that women who engage in sex work must be suffering from low self-esteem or recovering from some sort of emotional trauma. Stoya has spoken about her frustration with the media coverage she got in the early stage of her career when she under contract with Digital Playground. As one of their stars, she was required to do press and was asked questions implying she'd been molested as a child or that her family were ashamed of her. In fact, Stoya's parents are largely supportive of her career, though she has stated her mother would like her to do more "feminist" porn and that her job has made it harder for her dad to enjoy porn because he's worried about accidentally seeing one of her videos. You know, regular parent stuff. I'm sure you can relate. Stoya has never seemed to be anything less than comfortable with her career and her body (apart from her struggle with ingrown hairs which is pretty relatable for any woman). She has spent a lot of her career as an "alt" performer, as she doesn't have the typical porn body (and she has adorned that atypical body with nipple piercings). Digital Playground twice offered to pay for her to have breast implants and she refused them both times, preferring to stay as "natural" as possible. Though as she has written, in her usual straightforward way, "natural" is still a misnomer for a woman who spends money and time on skincare, hair dye and other beauty regimes. She cares about her looks but prefers to do her own sculpting (except, of course, in the case of the Stoya Destroya Fleshlight, made in her image).