Porn star goes to law school

Graduating senior and veteran of the adult entertainment industry, Traci, who goes by the alias Anita Cannibal, opens up about her past, present and future

By: Kriti Sood

SunDial -- 5/17/07

Porn Star Goes to Law School is the tag line of Traci's, aka Anita Cannibal's, MySpace profile page. These few words describe her excitement these days as she recently got accepted to The University of West Los Angeles School of Law.

A graduating senior at CSUN, Traci has been in the porn industry since 1994. Her list of movies goes up to about 129 in number and range from small feature films to big-budget movies.

Some of the recent movies that Traci has done include "Mature Women with Young Girls 16" (2006), "Barnyard Babes" (2005), "Porn Star: The Legend of Ron Jeremy" (2001) and "White Lightning" (2000).

According to Traci, her choice of profession was not something sudden, but a childhood interest.

"I was always in to it even as a little girl," she said. "I was born an exhibitionist. You know how some people are born gay. I guess the glitter and glam from the movies in seventies, when I was growing up, impacted me."

Although Traci has been primarily involved with the porn movies, she speaks of making a good amount of money from dancing.

"I danced on Burbank Street, on Broadway across from David Letterman Show," she said.

"I made a lot of money from dancing. I made like a million bucks when I was hot. Now, I am starving like any other student. I don't dance anymore, I don't feature."

Traci might not be featuring in the same amount of movies like before, however, the 36-year-old says that she still does some and will be doing one this week.

Movies and dancing has helped Traci make a fortune, but what she enjoys most is going to the brothels in Nevada.

"Going to brothels and getting license as a legal prostitute was the coolest thing," she said. "As a student, I had no social life, no contact with sexuality. I made thirty grand in twenty-one days last winter at brothels.

It was the best time ever. Guys that go there are the sweetest. You do a movie, you get off the set, it feels like you have been beaten up.

You are just ready to have a great time and they are like we need another position. Brothels are way better. I went just once to try it out. It was very warm and cuddly."

While she has faced a lot of ridicule over her four years at CSUN because of her profession, she was appalled by the recent negative comments made against her on MySpace.

Traci is a member of CSUN MySpace group that was founded on Aug 31, 2004 and has about 3,034 members.

Last April, she posted a comment as Anita Cannibal on MySpace CSUN group which received a lot of criticism from other group members.

I just wanted to know if there were any of my brothers and sisters in the group, Traci said.

"They were just attacking me for attending school, for everything," she said. "If they understood some of the ignorant things they say, I really think they wouldn't say all this."

Some comments were negative while some supported Traci's personal decision to choose her profession.

"It was like 'aaoow' initially," she said bringing her hand close to her heart.

She has also faced similar discrimination from her professors. A professor, she said, once called police officers to escort her out of the class.

For him, Traci only harbors extreme anger and some crude words.

Tatiana Sanpander, a graduating senior at CSUN, takes a finance class with Traci. According to her, people making such biases are close-minded, conservative and ignorant.

"She is a great student," Sanpander said. "One time we did a presentation for the class. She basically stole the show."

Daniel Degravel, a professor from the Department of Management, had Traci as one of his students. He says that he does not have any issues with her.

Although inside the university certain behaviors are not considered appropriate, what everyone does outside the university is a component of their private lives and does not even need to be discussed, he said.

"She has a strong capability in communication," he said. "When she makes team presentations, she is the leader in the team. She communicates very well."

"If people have negative things to say, then that's not good. You can't judge people. If something is legal, then the next layer is moral layer. Moral layer is personal. It is not a reason to criticize or make bad comments."

A business, finance and real estate major, Traci has future plans to pioneer her own business. She decided to pursue a bachelor's degree in this major to accumulate expertise to help with her potential business plans.

"Art comes naturally for me," she said. "Business is something you learn. Devil is in the details."

"I chose real estate because I like to provide low-income housing. One of the biggest problems in Southern California is buying a house. With all the stress, people go out and use drugs again. I will help people stay clean."

Coming out of drug addiction herself and seeing her family members engulfed in drugs, Traci now helps people in the porn industry to recover. This is one of the biggest things she loves about her profession and what it enables her to do.

"Being a performer gives me artistic freedom, financial freedom, geographical freedom," she said. "I get external self-esteem. It gives me an amazing network of people and it has allowed me to help people in recovery from drug addiction.

When I took three porn stars to a 12-step meeting the first time, I cried."

At a personal level, she makes attempts to solve the housing problem by having a number of people stay in her house. The rent she charges them, she said, is cheap compared to other places.

"I have a transitional living house that I bought with the proceeds from the adult entertainment industry," she said. "We live community style. We have a really high quality of life because we share - it is like a family."

"If I feel horny, I can go do a movie. But if I need family, I have these people."

Traci's father died few years ago while her mother currently lives in Washington. Not both of her parents completely supported her decision to be a porn actress."My dad was really excited," she said. "He was a weirdo anyway. He said, 'If you can do it, you are physically lucky.'

My mom was - 'you are like what?' I got a sister; she is not really my life. She is a wack."

Traci is quite aware of the criticism that will come her way once she starts her new business.

The new business, according to her, will help college students and other women overcome financial crisis.

According to Traci, providing online tutoring in which models wear a bra and underwear might fetch them $50 an hour while normally tutors get about $25 an hour.

She said the decision to expose will rest with the members; they could choose from sitting naked to simply flashing their feet or talking about sex.

"I'll go to them and give them a webcam," she said. "I will allow them to have every penny of it. You can advertise as, for example, a statistics tutor. People can go to you to get tutoring on your webcam.

I would make money on advertising. It is geared towards giving money back because as a performer I have been exploited."

Traci is all set to launch her new web site in the next three to four months. Her business plan would be ready by this summer and she already has her web designing team and venture capitalist geared up.

She relates to the plight of students because she herself has a loan to pay and would be in deeper financial dilemma when she enters law school.

"My business is geared towards Mary Kay's mission statement to empower women," she said. "My company is empowering women financially, academically and behaviorally. I want to get them back in school."

Having dealt with a lot of criticism before, the upcoming potential disapproval does not bother Traci.

Claiming to be completely aware of her morals and values way more than the imposed morality, she jokes about probably being a guest on the Daily Show once her web site is in business.

"You know what they do - they jack off with us with their left hand and push us away with their right," she said.

"Sex in this country is mixed. I am just being transparent individual and I am very proud."

Traci also loves to learn about documentary films for the reason that they are based on reality. According to her, they are very similar to the porn movies.

"Porn Star Goes to Law School" is a tag line for Traci's profile page but it is also a title of a documentary that she intends to make in near future. The documentary would focus on her life and the experiences she's encountered.