More than a Clinical Sexpert: An Interview with Sharon Mitchell, Ph.D.

Dr. Sharon Mitchell

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SH: Why did you decide to leave?

Dr. Mitchell: It was time. I think I had been in porn 10 years more than I wanted. I started in 1975, I left in ’95 to ’96. So, I had a good 20-21 years in front of the camera… The work was coming less and less. I was producing and directing for about 10 years; I didn’t like that. The industry had changed so much; I had just kind of lost my fascination with the industry. I had witnessed every change in the industry that there possibly could have been. I worked and traveled all around the world dancing as well, as a feature and a stripper. So, I had pretty much run the gambit… I was 38 years old and I never had a long-term goal in my life. When you work in any kind of entertainment industry, if you work on the same thing for more than 12 weeks, it’s an oddity. So I thought, ‘I’d be a doctor.’ I started school, got my doctorate and helping a lot of people.

SH: What did you write your thesis on?

Dr. Mitchell: I wrote my thesis on the AIM Foundation and the monitoring by using polymerase chain reaction testing in a controlled population. I really kind of put this test on the map in the United States. I chose this test because it tests for the inhibitory substance. So, just 10 days after exposure it will detect HIV. Also, if someone had HIV for a while and is on antiretroviral therapy, it’s going to pick that up as well. It’s a very good test for monitoring. The industry really needed a change.

There was a well-known actor—someone that I had, indeed, had worked with—who had HIV, and he was knowingly and willfully spreading HIV to women. I discovered this and uncovered it and that’s how I started the monitoring process. In the beginning, late 1997, early 1998, the program was funded by the Free Speech Coalition. Then I went on to start the AIM Healthcare Foundation in 1998.

SH: AIM is based out of California—there are two locations there. I live on the East Coast. How would I be able to get tested using the PCR-DNA test?

Dr. Mitchell: Actually, all you’ll need to do is go to a LabCorp®. You log onto AIM, pay online, and go to any local LabCorp®—we partnered up with Laboratory Corporation of America—get your blood drawn, and we provide your results within 48 hours.

SH: How many porn stars come in to get tested at the California locations?

Dr. Mitchell: Two thousand a month. We also have scholarship programs. We do a lot of research that I’ve been working on in this population in terms of background, stereotypes, spirituality. My doctorate has enabled me to partner up with a lot of universities. People have this myth that everyone comes from a broken home, they were abused, and this is not an occupation of choice; that people serve the last job on the line. That’s not true. We’re getting ready to release that research and I’m excited about that.