CHAMPAIGN - Last week, the University of Illinois - Champaign hosted classes taught by once-porn star Annie Sprinkle. Friday, the Daily Illini writes, one of her classes emphasized orgasms. All expenses were paid for by student fees, they say, but of course, also subsidized by Illinois' taxpayer dollars. Ms. Sprinkle retired from filming porn to earn a PhD. She's now immersed in the eco-sexuality movement, tying global warming with sex. (This is not from the Onion, folks.)
More at Daily IlliniAnnie has many titles. Porn star. Pleasure activist. Performance artist. Ecosex pioneer. Prostitute. They are a reflection of the other transformations Annie has gone through in the four decades since the fateful day she got a job selling popcorn at the Plaza Cinema in Tuscon, Ariz., in 1972. On the marquee? The notorious pornographic film “Deep Throat.”
“I had never seen porn before. I was blown away when I saw the movie,” she said. At the time, the creators of the film were being sought after by prosecutors for violating laws against interstate transportation of pornography.
She found herself at the courthouse, sitting in a waiting room with the director of “Deep Throat,” Gerard Damiano. She fell in love with him and followed him to New York City, where she began working as a prostitute in a massage parlor before entering the porn industry in 1973.
