Tristan Taormino
TRISTAN TAORMINO is an award-winning author, columnist, editor, sex educator, and adult filmmaker.
She graduated Phi Beta Kappa with her Bachelor’s degree in American Studies from Wesleyan University in 1993.
Tristan has lectured at over 60 top colleges and universities including Yale, Brown, Princeton, Columbia, Smith, Cornell, Barnard, Brandeis, Tufts, The New School, Rutgers University, Swarthmore, University of North Carolina, University of Wisconsin, and NYU, where she speaks on sex education, gender and sexuality, gay and lesbian issues, pornography, and feminism. She also teaches sex and relationship workshops around the world.
In 2003, she won the Vaughn Keith Educator of the Year Award from Black Rose in Washington, DC.
Tristan Taormino is the author of six books: Opening Up: Creating and Sustaining Open Relationships, True Lust: Adventures in Sex, Porn and Perversion, Down and Dirty Sex Secrets, The Ultimate Guide to Anal Sex for Women, The Anal Sex Position Guide, and The Big Book of Sex Toys. The Ultimate Guide to Anal Sex for Women won a Firecracker Book Award and was named Amazon’s Bestselling Title in Women’s Sex Instruction the year it was published. She is creator and series editor of sixteen volumes of Best Lesbian Erotica, which has won two Lambda Literary Awards. She wrote the popular Village Voice column “Pucker Up” for nine and a half years, and it was nationally syndicated in twelve other newspapers online. She has been a columnist for Taboo for over a decade and written for several other publications, including Vibe, Print, Playgirl, The Advocate, and Velvet Park.
Tristan and her work have been featured in hundreds of publications and media outlets including Cosmopolitan, Glamour, O: The Oprah Magazine, The New York Times, Redbook, Entertainment Weekly, Details, New York Magazine, Men’s Health, and Playboy.
Tristan has also has appeared on CNN, HBO’s Real Sex, The Howard Stern Show, Loveline, MTV, Oxygen, Fox News, The Discovery Channel, and on over six dozen radio shows. She was the resident sex expert on Ricki Lake for two seasons. She has worked as a consultant for film, television, and other media; her specialty is the representation of sexual and gender minorities. Past clients include Lion’s Gate, Penthouse, Sony Pictures Classics, Spike Lee’s 40 Acres and A Mule, and VH-1.
In 2000, she made her debut in the adult industry as writer, producer, director and star of the award-winning video The Ultimate Guide to Anal Sex for Women, based on her book and executive produced by Evil Angel Video. She directed and produced the sequel in 2001. In 2006, she launched her own adult film production company, Smart Ass Productions, and became an exclusive director for Vivid Entertainment. For Vivid, she directs several different series and helms Vivid’s sex education imprint, Vivid-Ed. Her films have won four Adult Video News Awards, three Feminist Porn Awards, an Adam Film World Award, an X-Rated Critics Organization Award and garnered dozens of other award nominations. In 2007, she became the first female director to win the Adult Video News Award for Best Gonzo Movie for her film Chemistry. In 2009, XCritic.com named her the #1 Female Adult Film Director in its top ten list.
