Sharon Mitchell

Sharon Mitchell (born January 18, 1956) 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.

For the EastEnders character, see Sharon Watts.
Sharon Mitchell
Mitchell in 2006
Born (1956-01-18) January 18, 1956
New Jersey, United States
Height5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)

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.[1][2]

During her 20-year career in adult films, she appeared in over 600 movies, including Barbara Broadcast, and directed 29 movies.[2] During her years in the industry, Mitchell admits to being a heroin addict for 16 of them.[3] Mitchell also contracted herpes, chlamydia, hepatitis, and trichomoniasis.[4] Mitchell worked with Golden Age production companies such as AVC, Caballero Home Video, Essex Video, Gourmet Video Collection, Leisure Time Entertainment, VCA Pictures, VCX, and the Zane Entertainment Group as well as contemporary studios such as Vivid Entertainment. Roughly a quarter of her appearances were non-sex roles,[2] and she 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][5]

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.[6] A privacy breach lawsuit was filed against the institute, and they closed their doors in May 2011.[7] Oversight of the protocol was assumed by the Free Speech Coalition.[8]

Awards

Mitchell is a member of the AVN Awards Hall of Fame[9] and XRCO Hall of Fame (since 1988).[10]

See also

References
  1. Madigan, Nick (2004-05-10). "Voice of Health in a Pornographic World". New York Times. Retrieved 2007-02-26.
  2. Sharon Mitchell at the Internet Adult Film Database
  3. Jablon, Robert (24 April 2004). "'Mother Teresa of porn' leads fight against AIDS". HeraldNet.com. Associated Press. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
  4. Mitchell, Sharon (2007-07-23). "Sharon Mitchell Chat at Court TV Online". Court TV (Transcript of interview). Interviewed by Court TV host (unnamed). Archived from the original on 2001-07-27.
  5. Tannen, Terrell (2004-08-28). "Profile: Sharon Mitchell, head of the Adult Industry Medical Clinic". The Lancet. Elsevier. 364 (9436): 751. doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(04)16921-3. PMID 15338566.
  6. 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.
  7. 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.
  8. Abram, Susan (2012-03-03). "Porn ordinance in effect today". Los Angeles Daily News. Retrieved 2014-09-11.
  9. "Hall of Fame". Archived from the original on 2007-07-15. Retrieved 2007-07-19.
  10. "XRCO Hall of Fame". Archived from the original on 2011-07-20. Retrieved 2007-12-30.

Further reading
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