Sharon Mitchell
Sharon Mitchell | |
---|---|
Born | New Jersey, United States |
Height | 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) |
Sharon Mitchell is an American sexologist and former pornographic film actor. In 1998, she founded the Adult Industry Medical Health Care Foundation (AIM), which tested over 1,000 adult film performers per month before a 2011 information leak led to a lawsuit and the clinic's closure.
Early life and career
Mitchell was adopted into a single-child family, raised Catholic, and briefly married at age 17 before she was an off-Broadway actress and dancer who claims to have toured with the Martha Graham Dance Company. Then, in the mid-1970s, she became an adult actress, appearing in films such as Water Power (1976), Captain Lust and the Pirate Women (1977), The Violation of Claudia (1977) and The Devil in Miss Jones Part II (1982).[1]
During her years in the industry, Mitchell admits to being a heroin addict for 16 of them.[2] Mitchell also had small roles in mainstream films, such as Night of the Juggler (1980) and Maniac (1980).
In March 1996, after a male stalker who was obsessed with her porn films assaulted, raped, and nearly killed her, Mitchell quit drugs. She became an addiction counselor and later obtained a MA and Ph.D. from the unaccredited Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality.[1][3]
In 1998, she founded the Adult Industry Medical Health Care Foundation (AIM), an organization which provided information and STD testing to workers in adult entertainment. As of 2004, they were testing 1,200 adult performers a month.[1] In 2011, a security breach led to over 12,000 adult performers' personal information being released publicly.[4] A privacy breach lawsuit was filed against the institute, and they closed their doors in May 2011.[5] Oversight of the protocol was assumed by the Free Speech Coalition.[6]
Awards
Mitchell is a member of the AVN Awards Hall of Fame[7] and XRCO Hall of Fame (since 1988).[8]
See also
References
- ^ a b c Madigan, Nick (2004-05-10). "Voice of Health in a Pornographic World". New York Times. Retrieved 2007-02-26.
- ^ Jablon, Robert (24 April 2004). "'Mother Teresa of porn' leads fight against AIDS". HeraldNet.com. Associated Press. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
- ^ Tannen, Terrell (2004-08-28). "Profile: Sharon Mitchell, head of the Adult Industry Medical Clinic". The Lancet. 364 (9436). Elsevier: 751. doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(04)16921-3. PMID 15338566. S2CID 36995044.
- ^ Katz, Lyla. (2011-02-04) AIM Healthcare Reopens Under New Name, Status Archived 2012-09-25 at the Wayback Machine. XBIZ.com. Retrieved on 2011-10-19.
- ^ Pardon, Rhett. (2011-05-03) AIM Clinic Closes; FSC Responds Archived 2012-09-25 at the Wayback Machine. XBIZ.com. Retrieved on 2011-10-19.
- ^ Abram, Susan (2012-03-03). "Porn ordinance in effect today". Los Angeles Daily News. Retrieved 2014-09-11.
- ^ "Hall of Fame". Archived from the original on 2007-07-15. Retrieved 2007-07-19.
- ^ "XRCO Hall of Fame". Archived from the original on 2011-07-20. Retrieved 2007-12-30.
Further reading
- Anthony, Andrew (2004-07-31). "Risky Business (part 1)". The Observer. Guardian News and Media. Retrieved 2014-09-10.
- Anthony, Andrew (2004-07-31). "Risky Business (part 2)". The Observer. Guardian News and Media. Retrieved 2014-09-10.
- Mitchell, Sharon (2007-12-08). "Promoting Healthcare for the Porn Industry". Weekend Edition (Transcript of interview). Interviewed by Scott Simon. NPR. Retrieved 2014-09-10.
- Mitchell, Sharon (2013-08-05). "Bringing Medical and Psychiatric Care to the Adult Film Industry". Clinician's Roundtable (Podcast). Interviewed by Michael Greenberg MD. ReachMD. Retrieved 2014-09-10.
External links
- "Official Website". Biography. Archived from the original on June 7, 2010.
- The Dark Side of Porn video
- Sharon Mitchell at IMDb
- Sharon Mitchell at the Internet Adult Film Database
- Sharon Mitchell at the Adult Film Database