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Nina Hartley

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Nina Hartley
Hartley at the AVN Awards, 2013
Born
Marie Louise Hartman[1][2][3]

(1959-03-11) March 11, 1959 (age 65)[4]
Berkeley, California, U.S.[5]
Other names
  • Nina Hartman
  • Nina Hartwell
EducationBerkeley High School
San Francisco State University (BSN)
Spouses
unnamed
​
​
(m. 1986; div. 2003)​
Ira Levine
​
(m. 2003)​


MotherBlanche Hartman
RelativesMarge Frantz (aunt)
Joseph Gelders (grandfather)
Emma Gelders Sterne (great aunt)
Websitenina.com

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]

Early life and education

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Hartley was born on March 11, 1959,[4] in Berkeley, California,[5] to a Lutheran father, Louis Hartman, and a Jewish mother, Blanche Hartman (née Gelders),[10][time needed] Her grandfather was a University of Alabama physics professor who was a Communist Party USA (CPUSA) party member in the 1930s.[11] Hartley's parents were members of the CPUSA[10][time needed] who converted to Buddhism when she was young.[12] Her father was blacklisted in 1957 for his communist beliefs.[13]

Hartley grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area,[14][15] and as a teenager self-identified as a feminist, influenced by the slogan "my body, my rules".[5][16][8] After graduating from Berkeley High School in 1977, she attended San Francisco State University's undergraduate nursing school and graduated magna cum laude in 1985,[11][14][17] receiving a Bachelor of Science in Nursing.[1] She was a registered nurse[18][12] until her license expired in 1986.[19]

Adult film career

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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, Hartley 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]

She 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, she was still actively performing,[22] and by 2017 had appeared in more than one thousand pornographic films.[7] She has been described by the San Francisco Chronicle as "one of the best-known actresses in the industry"[24] and by CNBC as "a legend in the adult world".[9]

Mainstream media appearances

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Hartley acted in the 1996 Canadian film Bubbles Galore[31] and has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show.[9] In the 1997 film Boogie Nights, she played William H. Macy's character's serially unfaithful wife who is murdered.[14][27] She later remarked, "The only movie I ever died in for having sex was a mainstream movie."[14]

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

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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 also 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]

Hartley was elected to the board of the Free Speech Coalition in 1995,[40] and is a long-time board member of the Woodhull Freedom Foundation (founded in 2003).[41] She has made frequent appearances at academic conferences, workshops, and in the media to promote sex positivity.[42] She has given lectures at Dartmouth College, Harvard University, and the University of California.[3][41]

Writing

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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

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Hartley is a self-described bisexual, swinger, and exhibitionist.[8][11][43] She married her first husband, a former Students for a Democratic Society leader,[11] in a three-way marriage with a second woman in 1986.[22] She describes the relationship as a "very unhappy marriage" to "someone who was not a good candidate for mating with a sex worker".[44]

Following her divorce in 2003,[22] Hartley married Ira Levine, known professionally as Ernest Greene,[44] a director of bondage films and editor of Hustler's Taboo magazine, with whom she had had a secret relationship in the 1980s.[45] They are openly polyamorous.[44][45] As of 2014, the couple lives in Los Angeles.[45]

Publications

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  • 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. ISBN 978-0-9629-6594-4.
  • —————— (1994). "Confessions of a Feminist Porno Star". In Jaggar, Alison M. (ed.). Living With Contradictions: Controversies In Feminist Social Ethics. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press. pp. 176–178. ISBN 978-0-8133-1775-5.
  • —————— (1997). "In the Flesh: A Porn Star's Journey". In Nagle, Jill (ed.). Whores and Other Feminists. New York: Routledge. pp. 57–65. ISBN 978-0-4159-1822-0.
  • With Levine, I. S. (2006). Nina Hartley's Guide to Total Sex. New York: Penguin Publishing Group. ISBN 978-1-58333-263-4.
  • With Morpheous (2012). How to Be Kinkier: More Adventures in Adult Playtime. San Francisco, Calif.: Green Candy Press. ISBN 978-1-9311-6094-0.
  • Hartley, 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. pp. 228–236. ISBN 978-1-5586-1818-3.
  • —————— (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. ISBN 978-0-9905571-6-6.

Awards

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AVN Awards

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Hartley has received eight Adult Video News Awards,[2] including:

AVN
Category Video/Film
1986 Best Couples Sex Scene - Film Ten Little Maidens
1987 Best Actress - Video Debbie Duz Dishes[46]
1989 Best Supporting Actress - Film Portrait of an Affair[47]
1989 Best Couples Sex Scene - Film Amanda By Night II[46]
1989 Best Couples Sex Scene - Video Sensual Escape[47]
1991 Best Supporting Actress - Video The Last X-Rated Movie[48]
2000 Best Group Sex Scene - Video Ultimate Guide to Anal Sex for Women[49]
2005 Best Specialty Tape - BDSM Nina Hartley's Private Sessions 13[50]
2005 Best Specialty Tape Spanking for Nina Hartley's Guide to Spanking[50]
2009 Best Non-Sex Performance Not Bewitched XXX[51]
AVN Hall of Fame[52]

XRCO Awards

[edit]

Hartley has won a number of XRCO Awards:

XRCO Awards
Year Category Video/Film
1986 Best Couple Sex Scene Ball Busters[53]
1987 Best Couple Sex Scene Peeping Tom[53]
1987 Torrid Triad Scene Every Woman Has a Fantasy 2[53]
1989 Female Performer of the Year[53] –
1990 Best Supporting Actress My Bare Lady[53]
1990 Best Girl-Girl Scene Sorority Pink[53]
1996 Hall of Fame[54]
2000 Best Group Scene Ultimate Guide to Anal Sex for Women[55]

Other awards

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Misc. Awards
Year Organization Category
1988 Free Speech Coalition Lifetime Achievement Award[56]
1990 FOXE Female Fan Favorite[57]
1991 FOXE Female Fan Favorite[57]
1992 FOXE Female Fan Favorite[57]
1994 Legends of Erotica Hall of Fame[58]
1996 Hot d'Or Lifetime Achievement Award[59]
2005 AEBN VOD Award Lifetime Achievement Award[60]
2006 Ninfa Public Lifetime Career Award[61]
2014 Exxxotica Fan Choice Awards Fanny Lifetime Achievement Award[62]
2019 XBIZ Award Best Non-Sex Acting Performance (Future Darkly: Artifamily)[63]
2020 XBIZ Award Best Non-Sex Acting Performance (Girls of Wrestling)[64]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c Terrace, Vincent (2007). Encyclopedia of Television Subjects, Themes and Settings. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company. p. 17. ISBN 978-0-7864-2498-6.
  2. ^ a b c Friedman, Gabe (June 15, 2015). "7 Jews Who Made It Big In Porn". The Forward. Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
  3. ^ a b c Niemietz, Brian (November 5, 2018). "Lecture by porn star Nina Hartley gets mixed reaction from midwestern university". Daily News. New York. Retrieved May 24, 2019.
  4. ^ a b "About Nina!". Nina.com. Retrieved March 18, 2022.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Olson, 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. ISBN 978-0-2280-0064-8. S2CID 213066346.
  6. ^ Roach, Catherine M. (2007). Stripping, Sex, and Popular Culture. Oxford, UK: Berg Publishers. p. 152. ISBN 978-1-8478-8347-6.
  7. ^ a b Miranda, Carolina A. (July 6, 2017). "The last (porn) picture shows: Once dotted with dozens of adult cinemas, L.A. now has only two". Los Angeles Times.
  8. ^ a b c d e Comella, Lynn (October 6, 2010). "Nina Hartley's Adult Film Career Has Been Long, Distinguished and Trailblazing—And It's Far From Over". Las Vegas Weekly. OCLC 1035049962. Retrieved October 3, 2023.
  9. ^ a b c Morris, Chris (January 18, 2012). "10 Porn Stars Who Went Mainstream". CNBC. Retrieved March 2, 2022.
  10. ^ a b c "Legendary pornstar Nina Hartley". TYT's The Conversation (video). January 11, 2013 – via YouTube.
  11. ^ a b c d Schlosser, Eric (2003). Reefer Madness: Sex, Drugs, and Cheap Labor in the American Black Market. Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin. pp. 178–179. ISBN 978-0-618-33466-7.
  12. ^ a b Nolen, Stephanie (April 24, 1999). "The thinking woman's porn star speaks out". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. p. C1. ISSN 0319-0714.
  13. ^ a b c d Hitt, Tarpley (January 28, 2019). "The Hillary Clinton of Porn is a Hardcore Socialist". The Daily Beast.
  14. ^ a b c d e f Calvert, Clay; Richards, Robert (2006). "Porn in Their Words: Female Leaders in the Adult Entertainment Industry Address Free Speech, Censorship, Feminism, Culture and the Mainstreaming of Adult Content" (PDF). Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law. 9 (2): 265–266. ISSN 1942-6771.
  15. ^ a b c Ranz, Sheldon (Spring 1989). "Interview: Nina Hartley". Shmate: A Magazine of Progressive Jewish Thought. No. 22. pp. 15–29. OCLC 917517251.
  16. ^ a b Hartley, 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. ISBN 978-1-5586-1818-3. Cited in:
    Tarrant, Shira (2016). The Pornography Industry: What Everyone Needs to Know. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 62. ISBN 978-0-19-020514-0.
  17. ^ Salinger, Lawrence M. (1998). Deviant Behavior 98/99. Annual Editions. McGraw-Hill Higher Education. p. 181. ISBN 978-0-697-39132-2.
  18. ^ McNeil, Donald G. Jr. (November 6, 2012). "Pornography and AIDS: A History". The New York Times. p. D1. ISSN 0362-4331.
  19. ^ TheRealNinaHartley (August 27, 2015). "Ask Nina Hartley Anything: Sex, Politics and Sexual Politics. Plus Porn!". Reddit. Retrieved January 13, 2023.
  20. ^ Hartley, Nina (1997). "In the Flesh: A Porn Star's Journey". In Nagle, Jill (ed.). Whores and Other Feminists. New York: Routledge. p. 57. ISBN 978-0-4159-1822-0.
  21. ^ "Carli Bei's One On One, Nina Hartley In the Schmooze, the Nintendo Holiday Preview Event, and MORE on Today's show!". Naked News (video). November 22, 2015.
  22. ^ a b c d e Wischhover, Cheryl (May 19, 2015). "Why I'm Still Doing Porn in My Late 50s". Cosmopolitan. Retrieved December 5, 2015.
  23. ^ Hartley (1997), p. 58.
  24. ^ a b Fagan, Kevin (January 31, 2010). "Adult film star Juliet 'Aunt Peg' Anderson dies". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved May 24, 2019.
  25. ^ Nutt, Shannon T.; Ramsey, Jenn. "Nina Hartley". Adult Video News. Retrieved February 28, 2022.
  26. ^ a b O'Connell, Loraine (December 17, 1992). "Porn Queen Gives Fans What They Want To See: An Eyeful". Orlando Sentinel. Archived from the original on November 16, 2017. Retrieved November 15, 2017.
  27. ^ a b c Robbins, Jefferson (May 15, 1998). "Bigger than a Porn Star?/X Marks Just One Spot for Finding Nina Hartley". State Journal-Register. Springfield, Ill. p. 1. Retrieved March 27, 2018 – via Infoweb.newsbank.com.
  28. ^ White, Tracie (June 7, 1992). "X-rated feminism". Santa Cruz Sentinel. pp. D1, B2. Retrieved May 24, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  29. ^ Penley, Constance; Parreñas Shimizu, Celine; Miller-Young, Mireille; Taormino, Tristan (2016). "Feminist Porn: the Politics of Producing Pleasure". In Hole, Kristin Lené; et al. (eds.). The Routledge Companion to Cinema & Gender. London: Routledge. p. 156. ISBN 978-1-317-40805-5.
  30. ^ "Hustler Video Does It Again With Palin Parody". Hustler World. October 8, 2008. Archived from the original on October 9, 2008. Retrieved October 6, 2008.
  31. ^ McGregor, Glen (May 30, 1999). "Porn star bubbling over with laughs amid funding feud". Calgary Herald. Retrieved March 26, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  32. ^ "the naked feminist: Louisa Achille – United States". International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam. Retrieved March 20, 2022.
  33. ^ "The Naked Feminist: 2003". The Screen Guide. Screen Australia. Retrieved January 5, 2022.
  34. ^ Allen, Samantha (January 22, 2016). "'Sticky' Documentary Dispels Myths About Self-Love". The Daily Beast.
  35. ^ Kaplan, Melissa (September 26, 2015). "How These Women Are Changing Porn". ATTN. Archived from the original on May 6, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  36. ^ Shaffer, Ryan (September–October 2010). "Atheism Ethics & Pornography: The Humanist Interview with Nina Hartley". The Humanist. Vol. 70, no. 5. Washington, D.C. pp. 25–29. ISSN 0018-7399. Archived from the original on June 9, 2011 – via Findarticles.com.
  37. ^ Thompson, Chris (April 27, 2005). "Take Back The Night, Part II". East Bay Express. Oakland, Calif. Retrieved March 2, 2022.
  38. ^ Calvert & Richards (2006), p. 283.
  39. ^ McLemee, Scott (February 6, 1997). "Sect Appeal". Salon. Archived from the original on February 2, 2019. Retrieved February 28, 2022.
  40. ^ Hartley (1997), p. 59.
  41. ^ a b Farris, Kyle (November 3, 2018). "'It's OK to like porn': Porn star Nina Hartley lectures UW-La Crosse students on sex, adult entertainment". La Crosse Tribune. Retrieved November 15, 2018.
  42. ^ Alilunas, Peter (2016). Smutty Little Movies: The Creation and Regulation of Adult Video. University of California Press. n. 134, p. 259. ISBN 978-0-520-29171-3.
  43. ^ Mourra, Sarah (November 22, 2000). "Porn Star Talks Sex to Students". The Daily Californian. ISSN 1050-2300. Archived from the original on January 20, 2008.
  44. ^ a b c Glass, Jeremy (May 20, 2016). "Married Porn Star Nina Hartley on Making Polyamory Work". Thrillist. Retrieved September 6, 2024.
  45. ^ a b c Lewis, Amanda (November 13, 2014). "L.A.'s BDSM Power Couple, and Their Sex Dungeon". LA Weekly. Retrieved September 6, 2024.
  46. ^ a b "1987 AVN Award winners and categories". Adult Video News. Archived from the original on January 18, 2014. Retrieved December 14, 2017.
  47. ^ a b "1989 AVN Award winners and categories". Adult Video News. Archived from the original on January 18, 2014. Retrieved December 14, 2017.
  48. ^ "1991 AVN Award winners and categories". Adult Video News. Archived from the original on January 18, 2014. Retrieved December 14, 2017.
  49. ^ "2000 AVN Award Winners Announced AVN".
  50. ^ a b "2005 AVN Award winners and categories". Adult Video News. Archived from the original on January 18, 2014. Retrieved January 16, 2014.
  51. ^ Sullivan, David (January 11, 2009). "2009 AVN Award-Winners Announced". Adult Video News. Archived from the original on February 23, 2009. Retrieved December 14, 2016.
  52. ^ "25th Annual AVN Awards Show". Archived from the original on October 20, 2007. Retrieved November 14, 2017.
  53. ^ a b c d e f "Nina Hartley Awards". AIWARDS. Retrieved December 14, 2017.
  54. ^ "XRCO Hall of Fame". Retrieved December 14, 2017.
  55. ^ "XRCO Awards Not Stolen - the Show Goes on Anyway AVN".
  56. ^ "11th Annual 'Night of the Stars'". Free Speech Coalition. 24 October 1998. Archived from the original on 24 February 1999.
  57. ^ a b c "Adult Video Awards". canbest.com. Archived from the original on June 24, 2006. Retrieved December 14, 2017.
  58. ^ "Legends of Erotica Class of 2008". Archived from the original on July 17, 2011.
  59. ^ "Oscar Wild?". The Des Moines Register. May 17, 1996. Retrieved April 17, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  60. ^ "AEBN Announces VOD Award Winners". March 3, 2005.
  61. ^ "The FICEB Ninfa, Tacón de Aguja and HeatGay Awards". June 9, 2007. Archived from the original on June 9, 2007. Retrieved April 20, 2014.
  62. ^ Warren, Peter (April 13, 2014). "2nd Annual Fannys Presented". Adult Video News. Archived from the original on June 1, 2016. Retrieved April 14, 2014.
  63. ^ "2019 Winners". XBIZ Awards. Retrieved March 1, 2022.
  64. ^ "2020 XBIZ Awards Winners Announced". January 17, 2020.

Further reading

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