Annie Sprinkle

Annie M. Sprinkle (born Ellen F. Steinberg July 23, 1954 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) 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.

Career
She is known as the "prostitute and porn star turned sex educator and artist." 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.

The first porn star to earn a Ph.D., Sprinkle received her Ph.D. in Human Sexuality from the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality in San Francisco, California. 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.

Sprinkle's first porn movie was Teenage Covergirl, released in 1973. That same year she appeared in Teenage Deviate, which Sprinkle herself described as "a misogynistic, politically incorrect film that was the style at the time because we didn't know any better."

The film Deep Inside Annie Sprinkle was the #2 grossing porn film of 1982. Her stage name is derived from her love of swimming, and her abilities with urination, notably the ability to turn herself into a human fountain.

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 featuring 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 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 located 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 domestic partner and art collaborator, Elizabeth 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.