Author/director Tristan Taormino's lecture, "My Life as a Feminist Pornographer," will be sponsored by Adam & Eve at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro April 21, 2004.
The lecture came through the invitation of a group of UNCG students, including the editor-in-chief of the student newspaper, The Carolinian, Joe Killian, who hit resistance when he sought funding from several academic departments for the new lecture.
"Everybody that I approached has been hesitant to lend their support in a public way," Killian said as the new lecture was announced. "They worry that there will be negative repercussions from the administration. Chancellor Sullivan's statement about ?exercising good judgment when choosing speakers' seems to have scared people off."
That alludes to a statement made by Chancellor Patricia Sullivan following Taormino's previous UNC lecture, "Sexploration," in February. That lecture provoked controversy when an associate professor from neighboring UNC-Wilmington wrote two columns about that lecture which attacked Taormino's credibility and attacked the university for "bringing a porn star" to "promote pornography and anal sex in the name of 'wellness' and 'diversity'."
Sullivan first claimed officials didn't know Taormino's background and said the university wouldn't have invited her if they had known more about that background. But Sullivan later issued another statement days later, apologizing for her original comments and saying university officials indeed knew Taormino's background and still asked her to appear.
"I am not comfortable with Ms. Taormino's pornographic associations and her Website," said the second Sullivan statement, "and I do not think it is good for the reputation and image of UNCG to be associated with the promotion of pornography, directly or indirectly."
Killian and another senior, John Russell, are holding an April 3 fundraiser at the Phases club in Greensboro, featuring a raffle and entertainment by local performers, including music group the Green People. The fundraiser is aimed to help bring Taormino's new lecture to the campus. Adam & Eve said they decided to match all funds brought in by the student fundraiser after learning about the plan for the April 21 lecture.
"Once we were given the information behind this upcoming event, we knew we wanted to be a part of this," said Adam & Eve public relations director Katy Zvolerin. "The opportunity to speak directly to college students about sexuality is important to all of us at Adam & Eve. It is also extremely important to discuss how and why businesses within the adult industry, like Adam & Eve, are not degrading or exploiting women, as certain elements would like the public to believe."
Taormino's resume includes directing, producing, and starring in a pair of educational adult videos based on The Ultimate Guide to Anal Sex for Women, volume one of which won two AVN Awards in 2000. She is also a sex columnist for the Village Voice and the author of two other books on sexuality, Down and Dirty Sex Secrets and True Lust: Adventures in Sex, Porn and Perversion.
"My Life as a Feminist Pornographer" will begin at 7 p.m. April 21.
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