Annie Sprinkle joins The Rialto Report to remember her early life and the start of her career in adult films in the 1970s.

This episode running time is 48 minutes.

Annie Sprinkle’s career defies categorization as much as it defies belief; she is a prostitute turned activist, a porn star turned artist, and a stripper turned sexologist. She has passionately researched and explored sexuality in all of its glorious and inglorious forms for the best part of four decades, and has shared her findings all along the way through producing and starring in her own unique brand of sex films, photographic work, teaching workshops, and college lectures.

A few years ago I went to see a performance piece that she and her partner, Beth Stephens,  produced. I went in the company of two of her fellow actors from the early days of the adult film industry – Michael Gaunt and Jamie Gillis.

We sheepishly admitted we didn’t know what to expect in advance but we didn’t care – we were just happy to see Annie. Over the course of the next couple of hours we sat in wonder as we witnessed one of the most moving and intelligent works we’d had the privilege to experience.

She is an American original, and we’re lucky to have her.

http://anniesprinkle.org/

Annie M. Sprinkle (born Ellen F. Steinberg on July 23, 1954) is an American sex educator, former prostitute, feminist stripper, pornographic actress, cable television host, porn magazine editor, writer and sex film producer. She received a BFA in photography from the School of Visual Arts in 1986 and earned a doctorate in human sexuality from the unaccredited Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality in San Francisco in 1992. Currently, Sprinkle works as a performance artist and sex educator. Sprinkle, who describes herself as “ecosexual”, married her long-time partner, Beth Stephens, in Canada on January 14, 2007.

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