Annie Sprinkle: Post-Porn Modernist [Paperback]

Annie Sprinkle (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 13, 1998

Fans catch Annie Sprinkle's performance pieces, rent her porn videos, attend workshops, follow her career in magazines, trade playing cards and erotic postcards Out Magazine called Annie Sprinkle a cottage industry. Funny, unorthdox, and shockingly erotic, Annie Sprinkle: Post Porn Modernist is Annie's scrapbook of her life as a pleasure activist, tracing her evolution from Ellen Steinberg to Annie Sprinkle, High Priestess of Porn. The most nakedly graphic memoir you will ever read, Post Porn Modernist is packed with personal mementos, before-and-after photos, diary entries and art projects. Here are Annie's newest writings and never-before-seen photographs along with classics: Public Cervix Announcement, Tit Art, 101 Uses for Sex, Cut-Out Finger Puppets, The Bosom Ballet, Pornstatistics, and the Transformation of Les Nichols, Annie's transsexual lover. Originally published by Art Unlimited, Amsterdam, 1991, Annie Sprinkle: Post Porn Modernist is a cult classic.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Porn-star-turned-performance-artist Annie Sprinkle presents an illustrated history of her 25-year career, documenting her transformation from ugly duckling to prostitute to porn queen to sexual healer, activist, and educator. Although she began as "an excruciatingly shy girl" selling popcorn at an adult theater showing Deep Throat, her playful and uninhibited nature was soon recognized. When the police closed the theater, she asked a spiritualist friend for a spell that might bring her a new job. "It was my first experience with witchcraft," Sprinkle recalls, "and I didn't really expect it to work. But did it ever! I hit the jackpot. Maybe it was just good luck, but a week later I was working as a prostitute." She was discovered by porn producers soon afterward and went on to make over 200 hardcore films before leaving the industry to develop her own public performances, the most famous of which was her "Public Cervix Announcement," in which she allowed audience members to view her interior using a speculum and a flashlight. Well-written, well-illustrated, and calmly outrageous, Post-Porn Modernist is a great introduction to an American original. --Regina Marler

Review

"Annie Sprinkle gives new meaning to the term 'revolutionary ardor.'" -- The Village Voice

"Sprinkle is a sort of groovy Aphrodite." -- SF Bay Guardian

Annie Sprinkle...gives new meaning to the term revolutionary ardor. -- Village Voice

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 215 pages
• Publisher: Cleis Press; 2nd edition (May 13, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1573440396
• ISBN-13: 978-1573440394
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #125,417 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing Woman With an Amazing Tale (Pun Intended), May 28, 1999

By 

Keath D. Graham "keatho" (West Hollywood, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Annie Sprinkle: Post-Porn Modernist (Paperback)

The first thing I noticed was Annie's smile on the cover. I think, "Hey, wait a minute...this book is about sex. Why is she smiling?" In other words, I'm in the puritanical Southern United States and sex isn't something not to be ashamed of...especially if it's not performed solely for your spouse...and as a duty.Annie's outlook is a positive, healthy approach to sex, though some will debate that, I'm sure. I had my girlfriend buy the book for me as a birthday gift and have been fascinated by it ever since. It's common sense sexuality, with just a twist of kink. Annie liberated my stodgy thinking about sex and I'm grateful for it!

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Annie Sprinkle is a true Pioneer!, August 3, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Annie Sprinkle: Post-Porn Modernist (Paperback)

Annie Sprinkle has proven herself to be a true pioneer within the porn industry. She pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable and in doing so made people notice her. I witnessed her "Public Cervix Announcement" and it forever changed my thinking towards sex and sexuality. This book is a compendium in text and photo of her accomplishments. As a pioneer who pushed the boundaries of taste as far as sexuality is concerned, she loosened up Americas inhibitions and in doing so made a place for herself in the world of sex and porn. Annie Sprinkle truly is/was a post porn modernist in every sense. This book will let you vicariously see her career through her photos and words.

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Of *course* she's smiling . . ., June 20, 2001

By 

"kellyeleasure" (Silver Spring, MD United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Annie Sprinkle: Post-Porn Modernist (Paperback)

She's Annie Sprinkle! And she's done favulous work with this book. An autobiographical romp through the sex industry, Post-Porn Modernist is hilarious and touching. Most people (of those who have heard of her) think that Annie Sprinkle derived her nom-de-porn from her golden shower scenes in her early film, Deep Inside Annie Sprinkle, but Annie debunks that myth on page ten with her tribute to her namesake. It is, of course, wonderfully ironic that "Sprinkle" fits her career history so perfectly.

A mix of stories, photos and lists ("The Sprinkle Salon Guest Book," "101 Uses for Sex"), Post-Porn Modernist touches on a little of everything: the porn industry, AIDS, art, transexuality, burlesque. The section titled "Erotic Bible Reading" is especially fun. In it, Annie writes of such a reading she gave in which she read from the first book of Genesis. She says her personal favorite line was, "it was gooood."

Annie Sprinkle is a legend in the porn industry, and has used her experiences to further the lovely idea of sex positivity.

And it certainly is "gooooood."