Former porn star discusses transition to sex education
By: Lucy First
Issue date: 3/6/09 Section: News
Let's talk about sex, baby.
Such was the topic of self-proclaimed "feminist porn activist" Annie Sprinkle Thursday in the Union Building Ballroom.
Sprinkle presented her life story, held a discussion and performed her "bosom ballet" to a near-capacity group of students and professors. The event was sponsored by United DePauw and the Students Art Council.
At the beginning of the night, Sprinkle warned the audience that "sexually explicit material" would be shown and that the event would be "informal." She kicked off the presentation with her own training video of how to make a pornography video and called making it a "creative process."
Her advice for those wishing to make pornography is to "make sure films show hot, safe sex."
But Sprinkle does not view sex and pornography as an inappropriate subject, calling sex the "elephant in the room."
"Pornography and sex is a big part of our world," Sprinkle said to the audience. "Why not study it?"
Sprinkle, a native of Los Angeles, was raised by her parents to be an activist. Her parents did not talk to her about the "birds and the bees," let alone about pornography.
Sprinkle lost her virginity at age 17 and had 50 sexual partners in the course of one month, keeping notes on all of them.
"I was very shy about sex at first," Sprinkle said, but was still intrigued by the pornography industry.
"Being in the sex industry, I was able to recreate myself," Sprinkle said. "I was interested in the filmmaking and sex, and it went together."
In her early films, Sprinkle said she was "exploring and experimenting." However, acting proved more of a challenge.
"It was the sex that was easy; it was the acting that was hard," Sprinkle said.
Sprinkle also discussed the changes in the pornography industry. She said when she first started, the men in the films went after the women, who did not really want to have sex but ended up enjoying themselves. A shift occurred as women started creating more pornographic films and taking control of their images. Films also became more diverse with the Internet.
Such was the topic of self-proclaimed "feminist porn activist" Annie Sprinkle Thursday in the Union Building Ballroom.
Sprinkle presented her life story, held a discussion and performed her "bosom ballet" to a near-capacity group of students and professors. The event was sponsored by United DePauw and the Students Art Council.
At the beginning of the night, Sprinkle warned the audience that "sexually explicit material" would be shown and that the event would be "informal." She kicked off the presentation with her own training video of how to make a pornography video and called making it a "creative process."
Her advice for those wishing to make pornography is to "make sure films show hot, safe sex."
But Sprinkle does not view sex and pornography as an inappropriate subject, calling sex the "elephant in the room."
"Pornography and sex is a big part of our world," Sprinkle said to the audience. "Why not study it?"
Sprinkle, a native of Los Angeles, was raised by her parents to be an activist. Her parents did not talk to her about the "birds and the bees," let alone about pornography.
Sprinkle lost her virginity at age 17 and had 50 sexual partners in the course of one month, keeping notes on all of them.
"I was very shy about sex at first," Sprinkle said, but was still intrigued by the pornography industry.
"Being in the sex industry, I was able to recreate myself," Sprinkle said. "I was interested in the filmmaking and sex, and it went together."
In her early films, Sprinkle said she was "exploring and experimenting." However, acting proved more of a challenge.
"It was the sex that was easy; it was the acting that was hard," Sprinkle said.
Sprinkle also discussed the changes in the pornography industry. She said when she first started, the men in the films went after the women, who did not really want to have sex but ended up enjoying themselves. A shift occurred as women started creating more pornographic films and taking control of their images. Films also became more diverse with the Internet.
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