Annie
M. Sprinkle (born Ellen F. Steinberg on July 23, 1954 in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, United States) is a former prostitute, stripper, porn
film star, cable television host, porn magazine editor and writer,
and sex film producer. She received a BFA in photography from the
School of Visual Arts in 1986. Currently, Sprinkle works as a performance
artist and sex educator. Sprinkle, who is bisexual,[1] married her
long-time partner, Beth Stephens, in Canada on January 14, 2007.
Career
Sprinkle
is known as the "prostitute and porn star turned sex educator
and artist".[3] Her best known theater and performance art
piece is her Public Cervix Announcement, in which she invites the
audience to "celebrate the female body" by viewing her
cervix with a speculum and flashlight. She also performed The Legend
of the Ancient Sacred Prostitute, in which she did a "sex magic"
masturbation ritual on stage. She has toured one-woman shows internationally
for 17 years, some of which were are titled Post Porn Modernist,
Annie Sprinkle's Herstory of Porn, Hardcore from the Heart, and,
currently, Exposed; Experiments in Love, Sex, Death and Art.[4]
The
first porn star known to have earned a Ph.D., Sprinkle received
her Ph.D. in Human Sexuality from the Institute for Advanced Study
of Human Sexuality in San Francisco. Her work, spanning more than
three decades, is studied at many universities, in theater history,
women's studies, and film studies courses. She also is a faculty
member at The New School of Erotic Touch.[5]
Sprinkle's
first porn movie was Teenage Covergirl, released in 1975. Perhaps
her best known featured role was in Deep Inside Annie Sprinkle (co-directed
by Sprinkle and sexploitation veteran Joseph W. Sarno) which was
the #2 grossing porn film of 1981.
In
1991, Sprinkle created the Sluts and Goddesses workshop, which became
the basis for her 1992 production The Sluts and Goddesses Video
Workshop – Or How To Be A Sex Goddess in 101 Easy Steps, which was
co-produced and co-directed with videographer Maria Beatty and featured
music by composer Pauline Oliveros.
She
later starred in Nick Zedd's experimental films War Is Menstrual
Envy (1992), Ecstasy In Entropy (1999), and Electra Elf: The Beginning
(2005).
She
has appeared in over 200 films; they have included hard and softcore
pornography, B movies, loops, numerous documentaries, and four HBO
Real Sex programs. She also produced, directed, and starred in several
of her own films, such as Annie Sprinkle's Herstory of Porn. Her
work in these films has earned her a spot on the Adult Star Path
of Fame in Edison, New Jersey.
Sprinkle's
work has always been about sexuality, with a political, spiritual,
and artistic bent. In December 2005, she committed to doing seven
years of art projects about love with her wife and art collaborator,
Beth Stephens. They call this their Love Art Laboratory. Their projects
are all documented on their web site, www.loveartlab.org. Part of
their project is to do an experimental art wedding each year, and
each year has a different theme and color. The seven-year theme
was adapted to their project by invitation of artist Linda M. Montano. |