Source: Adult Industry News
By: Rich Moreland
At this year’s Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas, I found out that Nina Hartley is entering her thirty-fifth year in the industry. So, we got together and talked about her career.
She began with politics.
“What stands out for me,” she says, “is the ongoing efforts of sex workers to organize.” We live in “a post-feminist revolution world” and the current generation is “proud, angry, outraged, and finding each other,” Nina tells me.
“The sex-positive movement works hard to be inclusive of everyone regardless of race, class, and gender expression/identity,” Nina continues, which makes it stronger.
Among her proudest accomplishments, Nina points out, is her work for “the Woodhull Freedom Alliance, a non-profit organization” that promotes “human and sexual rights.”
Without doubt Nina Hartley is more politically active than most people in porn. She calls out sexual oppression with as fine a voice as will ever grace the adult industry.
Asked about her career, Nina replies, “What sticks out is how happy I’ve been with my decision to enter porn.”
While earning her nursing degree in the early 1980s, the San Francisco State grad danced in local clubs. From there, it was a short jump into hardcore.
Part of her motivation to shoot adult film was this: Nina always recognized that our culture needed a sexual makeover to broaden understanding of human relations.
“Sex is my area of study and interest. Porn proved a fantastic way to have a lot of it with a wide range of people in a controlled, semi-public environment without the encumbrances of romantic entanglement,” Nina explains.
Sex education has always been on her radar. She broadcasts on the ‘Nina frequency,’ as she humorously puts it, trusting that “the people who need to hear my message will find it.”
Over the years, reactions to her career have been gratifying.
“This personal connection with my fans is one of the best aspects of my job. The original ones have grown older with me and I continue to gain new, younger fans who also like my message about sex. My 2006 book, “Nina Hartley’s Guide to Total Sex,” is something of which I’m still quite proud.”
Nina takes immeasurable satisfaction from the social changes she seen over the years and the part she has played in them. She mentions “the ever-expanding social acceptance of so-called “alternative lifestyles.”
In her younger days, swinging, “a very heteronormative sexual subculture,” was the only vehicle out there. But things have changed today.
“Now, support for trans inclusion, anti-racism, anti-White supremacy, sex worker rights, polyamory rights and non-traditional families, is nationwide and gaining traction,” Nina says. “Feminist scholars who are supportive of autonomy for women now populate more universities.”
Nevertheless, Nina offers an observation couched in her years of fighting for sex worker recognition.
“The progressive movement [today] seems to be splitting along similar lines as the feminist movement did back during the “Porn Wars” of the mid-1980’s, between pro- and anti-censorship/sex worker rights wings.”
Prejudices remain entrenched, apparently.
I ask Nina about the state of the adult business today.
“Porn-wise what stands out is the ongoing transfer of power within the producing community from company owners/producers to the performers themselves. Fueled by technology, any performer can make direct contact with the end user, charge what they want and keep the money.”
And that includes male performers who now have “equal access” to porn’s fan base.
Throw in “content trade” (the collaboration of models and photographers beyond the studios) and “fans get to see their favorite performers doing exactly what they please.”
Everyone benefits. “Performers are staying in the business longer, and coming together as a proud community. I find this satisfying to witness,” Nina proclaims.
Finally, what’s on Nina’s agenda for 2019?
“Going forward life looks good,” Nina says. She’s pleased with her career, “both on camera and off.”
Nina continues to speak about sexuality and personal responsibility in academia. Porn is a vital part of any talk she gives.
Of course, the northern California native remains a staunch advocate “for sexual freedom” and touts her “SFW (safe for work) site, nina.live, where she offers “counseling, consulting and coaching on sex and relationship issues.”
“When we can learn how to make friends with our bodies and desires, true happiness and contentment is possible. For everyone,” Nina Hartley concludes.
Contact Nina Hartley Here:
Twitter: @ninaland
nina.live (SFW)
nina.com (NSFW)
