Marie Louise Hartman (born March 11, 1959), known professionally as Nina Hartley,[1][2][3] is an American
pornographic film actress and
sex educator.[5][6] By 2017 she had appeared in more than one thousand adult films.[7] She has been described by Las Vegas Weekly as an "outspoken
feminist" and "advocate for sexual freedom",[8] and by
CNBC as "a legend in the adult world".[9]
Hartley sought a career in pornography as a way to make a living by having sex,[5] later telling Las Vegas Weekly, "Porn gave me easy access to women without having to date them or have a relationship."[8]
She writes that part of her reason for choosing sex work was to be able to indulge her
exhibitionistic and
voyeuristic streak.[20]
She has said she chose her life's work when she saw the 1976 erotic film The Autobiography of a Flea alone at a theater in San Francisco.[21][10][time needed]
In 1982, during her sophomore year of nursing school, she started working as a
stripper at the
Sutter Cinema and then the
Mitchell Brothers O'Farrell Theatre.[22][15]
She told an interviewer that she chose the name "Nina" because it was easy for Japanese tourists to say during the time she was a dancer in San Francisco, and "Hartley" because it was close to her own last name, and she "wanted a name that sounded like that of a real person."[15]
Her pornographic film debut was in Educating Nina (1984),[5][23] where she was cast and directed by fellow performer
Juliet Anderson.[22][24][25]
For many years, she toured the United States and Canada as a stripper and made personal appearances at
sex shops.[26][27]
In 2013 she described her father's reaction upon learning about her occupation:
He asked, 'Why sex? Why not the violin?' I know now that I'm sexual the way that Mozart was musical [...] a life of public sexuality has, from my very first time on stage, been as natural to me as breathing."[16]
In the 1980s and early 1990s, Hartley starred in several of the Debbie Does Dallas film series spin-offs such as Debbie Duz Dishes (1986) and Debbie Does Wall Street (1991).[26]
In 1992, she directed her first movie, Nina Hartley's Book of Love.[28]
She also produced and starred in a series of sex education videos for
Adam & Eve.[29]
In 1994, she began her line of instructional videos marketed under the Nina Hartley's Guide brand.[27]
Hartley played the part of
Hillary Clinton in the 2008 satirical pornographic film Who's Nailin' Paylin?,[13] with
Lisa Ann in the role of
Sarah Palin.[30]
As of 2015[update], Hartley was still actively performing,[22] and by 2017 she had appeared in more than one thousand pornographic films.[7]
She has been described by news outlets as "one of the best-known actresses in the industry"[24] and "a legend in the adult world".[9]
Hartley has appeared in several documentary films: she was interviewed in The Naked Feminist (2003)[32][33] was featured in After Porn Ends (2012), and appears in Sticky: A (Self) Love Story (2016),[34] in which she discusses
masturbation with regards to education, the forced resignation of
Joycelyn Elders, and her opinions on the blackballing of comedian
Paul Reubens after his arrest for masturbating in a public theater.[citation needed]
Activism
Las Vegas Weekly has described Hartley as an "outspoken feminist, sex educator and advocate for sexual freedom" and "a guiding force for a generation of feminist porn stars".[5][8]
Describing herself as a "classical liberal feminist",[35][36] Hartley began engaging in
feminist activism in the 1980s.[37] Regarding her understanding of feminism, she has said:
Based on my experience as a woman and a sexual being, and my understanding that I had the right to decide for myself what to do with my life – that’s what I understood to be feminist, to give everybody choices – I didn’t choose to be a mother but I chose this [porn] because it suits me.[38]
Hartley has also been involved in
socialist activism[39] and has long been affiliated with the
Adult Performer Advocacy Committee (APAC), a labor union founded in 2014 for pornographic film actors.[13]
Politically, Hartley describes herself as a
democratic socialist, saying, "There are some things the federal government is essential for and some things best left to local government."[13]
In 2006, Hartley co-authored Nina Hartley's Guide to Total Sex with her husband Ira Levine. The book includes sections on
sex toys,
swinging,
threesomes,
dominance and submission, and
erotic spanking.[14]Library Journal called the book a "well-written guide" that is "strong on both safe sex and a permissive approach", saying Hartley "handles the material frankly, accurately, and with sensitivity".[14]
Personal life
Hartley is a self-described
bisexual, swinger, and exhibitionist.[8][43]
For two decades until the early 2000s, she was involved in a three-way relationship with her first husband—a former
Students for a Democratic Society leader—and a woman.[44]
She married her male partner in 1986, a marriage she says was regrettable; their divorce was finalized in 2003.[22]
The same year, Hartley married Ira Levine, a director of porn films under the name Ernest Greene.[45]
They are openly
polyamorous.[46]
Publications
Hartley, Nina (1993). "Reflections of a Feminist Porn Star". Porn in the USA. Gauntlet: Exploring the Limits of Free Expression. Vol. 5. Springfield, Penn.: Gauntlet Inc. pp. 62–68.
ISBN978-0-9629-6594-4.
—————— (2015). "Culture Clash". In Lee, Jiz (ed.). Coming Out Like a Porn Star: Essays on Pornography, Protection, and Privacy. Berkeley, Calif.: ThreeL Media. pp. 255–256.
ISBN978-0-9905571-6-6.
^
abcTerrace, Vincent (2007). Encyclopedia of Television Subjects, Themes and Settings. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company. p. 17.
ISBN978-0-7864-2498-6.
^
abcdefgOlson, Ingrid (2019). "Letters to Nina Hartley: Pornography, Parrhesia, and Sexual Confessions". In Waugh, Thomas; Arroyo, Brandon (eds.). I Confess!: Constructing the Sexual Self in the Internet Age. McGill–Queen's University Press. pp. 136–137.
doi:
10.2307/j.ctvr7fc4q.11.
ISBN978-0-2280-0064-8.
S2CID213066346.
^Roach, Catherine M. (2007). Stripping, Sex, and Popular Culture. Oxford, UK: Berg Publishers. p. 152.
ISBN978-1-8478-8347-6.
^
abcRanz, Sheldon (Spring 1989). "Interview: Nina Hartley". Shmate: A Magazine of Progressive Jewish Thought. No. 22. pp. 15–29.
OCLC917517251.
^
abHartley, Nina (2013). "Porn: An Effective Vehicle for Sexual Role Modeling and Education". In Taormino, Tristan; et al. (eds.). The Feminist Porn Book: The Politics of Producing Pleasure. New York: The Feminist Press. p. 228.
ISBN978-1-5586-1818-3. Cited in:
Tarrant, Shira (2016). The Pornography Industry: What Everyone Needs to Know. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 62.
ISBN978-0-19-020514-0.
^Salinger, Lawrence M. (1998). Deviant Behavior 98/99. Annual Editions. McGraw-Hill Higher Education. p. 181.
ISBN978-0-697-39132-2.
^Alilunas, Peter (2016). Smutty Little Movies: The Creation and Regulation of Adult Video. University of California Press. n. 134, p. 259.
ISBN978-0-520-29171-3.
Greenfield-Sanders, Timothy (2004). XXX: 30 Porn-Star Portraits. New York: Bulfinch Press.
ISBN0-8212-7754-5. Features an essay and introduction by Hartley
Marvin, Louis (1987). The New Goddesses. Malibu, Calif.: AF Press.
ISBN0-912442-99-9. Features a chapter on Hartley
Warner, Brad (2010). Sex, Sin, and Zen: A Buddhist Exploration of Sex from Celibacy to Polyamory and Everything in Between. Novato, Calif.: New World Library.
ISBN978-1-57731-910-8. Features an interview with Hartley
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nina Hartley.