Positively Sex-Positive With Annie Sprinkle
by Samurai
Sex workers for centuries have endured the tainted eye and outcast of
society. But for over a quarter of a century, Dr Annie Sprinkle and
other sex-positive feminist
have turned to art, workshops, lectures and public writings to educate
the public and entitle sex workers to self-respect their work and life.
Yes, the same Annie Sprinkle, the porn star-prostitute that starred in 1981's second highest selling adult video, "Deep Inside Annie Sprinkle". Now add the title of doctor
as Sprinkle earned her Ph.D in Human Sexuality in 2002 from the
Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality, in San Francisco, CA;
being recognized as the first porn star to receive a Ph.D. Like other sex-positive feminist,
Sprinkle has her devotees who admire her lectures, artwork and other
creative outlets that celebrate sex workers and the personal pleasure
found in sex.
"The 70's feminist movement was a
little less sex-positive. They were more focused on issues of rape,
violence and exploitation, " says Sprinkle, "but
they didn't leave much room for people like me. They were working on
equal rights and didn't think of us as being feminist until they
finally realized that we are feminist, too."
The sex-positive movement,
which, embraces sexual freedom and expression took hold in the mid 80's
not in opposition to the radical feminist movement of Andrea Dworkin,
Susan Brownmiller or Melissa Farley but in contrast. "You
need the political part, but it's the whore culture that seems to be
having the biggest effect as to helping people understand what
prostitution is like."
Western religious culture says you will burn in Hell. Radical feminist or sex-negative feminist
call men pigs for exploiting women. Sprinkle does not ostracize
pornography yet has spoken out on the industry's negative aspects while
embracing pornography's empowering aspects in modern social life. Yes,
some pornography and even sex workers do have social redeeming ideals
and values. The spouse who's partner is ill or passed on and the need
for carnal desire is a distant memory. Or the spouse who is unaware of
their body and grew up with the teaching that sex is dirty. Sprinkle's time in the porn industry, which she summarizes as “a
learning experience: learning what I do and don’t want to do, how to
say No, learning what I like and what I don’t like. …I think that if I
was a victim, in a sense I was just as responsible as the victimizer.
That sounds harsh, but whenever that happened I’m sure I created a lot
of it. So I take responsibility for any exploitation that occurred.”
While agreeing with some of the testimony Dworkin spoke at the 1986
Meese Commission on Pornography, Sprinkle personally disagreed with
Dworkin about being a victim having worked in the porn industry because
"I didn't feel like a victim."
"The problem however is that when you're on one side or the other on the frontline, you tend to only look at your side," she added. "We
need both voices. We also need people talking about orgasms and
pleasure. To make people touch, love and affection. And then we do need
people to speak out against violence, rape and abuse."
In 1973, after working in a Tucson, AZ massage parlor, Sprinkle moved
to New York to begin her second career in the adult film industry,
first as an on-set assistant and later, porn actress. Sprinkle takes
the positive and unabashed view when performing nude in front of the
camera. Her views are funneled through her art that are enlightening
and at times, refreshingly humorous. "I'm an artist type person. I like the creative aspect of making a film and I like sex."
For most on-camera women performers in the sex industry, the race
against time becomes a point of contention when younger and robust
starlets burst onto the scene while the more established veterans are
slowly put out to the sex industry pasture. Who's going to hire someone
in the square world with a resume as a former porn star, sex worker or
even a legal prostitute in Nevada? "Like
any job; when you're done, you're done. After 20 years, it was hard to
figure out what to do but I was lucky I had a support group," Sprinkle
noted.
That support group, Club 90,
were Sprinkle's close friends from the adult industry. Gloria Leonard,
Veronica Hart, Sharon Mitchell, Veronica Vera, Candida Royalle and Sue
Nero. They continued in the sex industry, educating others in the
square world with lectures, media presentations and small stage
performances. The original seven began to tear away at the myths of sex
workers by communicating the compassionate message that they too were
also mothers, daughters and wives. Each of them found their new niche
remaining in the sex industry on their own terms. And it was from this
networking group, Sprinkle began to see her next lifepath as an artist,
speaker, writer and sex worker activist.
“Providing Educational Opportunities For Adult Industry Workers”
was Sprinkle's Ph.D dissertation which inquired as to what sex workers
wanted to do further in their life. Continuing education, handling
money and legal issues were the popular topics sex workers were
interested in. Sex Worker Education In Training (SWET)
was a program created by Sprinkle born out of this dissertation that
teaches the history of sex work, improving self-esteem and personal
finances.
Sprinkle's advice to all the ladies of Nevada's legal houses is to
have priorities in your life and refrain from drug and alcohol abuse
which through her personal experiences knew of several acquaintances
who had a much tougher time adjusting to the real world. Sprinkle adds
that continuing education is another option and strongly endorses
networking to create a support group of like-minded people who are
going through similar situations. "Of course, you could go the Julia Roberts route of finding a permanent buyer! If it's all for love, all the better," laughed Sprinkle.
Although Nevada's legal prostitution system offers a safe and legal
alternative to consensual sex, Sprinkle offers caution about the
persistent public perception of sex workers and the johns who patronize
them. The social stigma still remains but Sprinkle adds that with more
sex workers, it "appears to becoming more socially acceptable like the show on HBO" and other media presentations and "there's more people out there that want decriminalization of prostitution."
It is Sprinkle's creative work through art, media presentations and
lectures that educates the curious public that sex work and the
customers who patronize the industry underscores that what happens
between consenting adults serves a basic human fundamental need for
intimacy, personal enjoyment and sex.
We'd like to express our appreciation to Annie Sprinkle for taking her time to share her thoughts here. Photographs of Annie Sprinkle are courtesy of anniesprinkle.org .
