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But Sprinkle’s performance never is done in a titillating or gratuitous fashion. OK, she does do some quirky things onstage, the infamous “Public Cervix Announcement” and a douche break included. But Sprinkle’s message-about one powerful woman’s capacity to create and re-create herself despite pervasive misogyny-should probably have been the real threat.
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Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) and his cronies went after Sprinkle a couple of years ago because she does things like invite viewers up to look at her cervix during her performance. But she’s actually a brave and articulate woman whose liberating wit and wisdom have created a compelling show. Annie Sprinkle just may be the one for whom they coined the phrase “You’ve come a long way, baby.” The ex-porn star turned performance artist, whose “Post-Post Porn Modernist” opened Thursday to an overflow crowd at Highways, is best known as the gal who got the religious right all hot and bothered during the NEA wars.
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