Nina Hartley

Last updated

Nina Hartley
Nina Hartley AEE 2013.jpg
Hartley at the AVN Awards, 2013
Born
Marie Louise Hartman

March 1959 (age 66)
Berkeley, California, U.S.
Other names
  • Nina Hartman
  • Nina Hartwell
Education Berkeley High School
San Francisco State University (BSN)
Spouses
unnamed
​
​
(m. 1986;div. 2003)​
Ira Levine
​
(m. 2003)​
Mother Blanche Hartman
Relatives Marge Frantz (aunt)
Joseph Gelders (grandfather)
Emma Gelders Sterne (great aunt)
Website nina.com

Marie Louise Hartman (born 1959), known professionally as Nina Hartley, [1] is an American pornographic film actress and sex educator. [2] By 2017 she had appeared in more than one thousand adult films. [3] She has been described by Las Vegas Weekly as an "outspoken feminist" and "advocate for sexual freedom", [4] and by CNBC as "a legend in the adult world". [5]

Contents

Early life and education

Hartley was born in Berkeley, California in March 1959, [6] the youngest of four children [7] of a Lutheran father, Louis Hartman, and a Jewish mother, Blanche Hartman (née Gelders). [8] Her grandfather, Joseph Gelders, was a University of Alabama physics professor, a prominent labor and civil rights activist, and a Communist Party USA (CPUSA) member in the 1930s. [9] [8]

Hartley's parents converted to Buddhism when she was young. [10] Her mother supported the family as a biochemist [9] after her father, San Francisco radio announcer Louis Hartman, was blacklisted in 1957 for his communist beliefs. [11]

As a teenager, Hartley self-identified as a feminist, influenced by the slogan "my body, my rules". [6] [12] [13] 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, [9] [14] [15] receiving a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. [16] She was a registered nurse [17] [10] until her license expired in 1986. [18]

Adult film career

Hartley has stated that pornography is one of the few places where women are allowed to initiate and take pleasure in sex in a society that restricts women's sexuality with expectations of virginity, monogamy, and childbearing. [19] She deliberately sought a career in pornography as a way to make a living by having sex, [20] later telling Las Vegas Weekly , "Porn gave me easy access to women without having to date them or have a relationship." [13] She writes that part of her reason for choosing sex work was to be able to indulge her exhibitionistic and voyeuristic streak. [7] 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] [8]

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] [23] 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." [23]

Her pornographic film debut was in Educating Nina (1984), [24] where she was cast and directed by fellow performer Juliet Anderson. [22] [25] [26] For many years, she toured the United States and Canada as a stripper and made personal appearances at sex shops. [27] [28] Hartley describes her father's reaction to her choice of 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." [12]

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). [27] In 1992, she directed her first movie, Nina Hartley's Book of Love. [29] She also produced and starred in a series of sex education videos for Adam & Eve. [30] [31] In 1994, she began her line of instructional videos marketed under the Nina Hartley's Guide brand. [28]

She played the part of Hillary Clinton in the 2008 satirical pornographic film Who's Nailin' Paylin? , [32] with Lisa Ann in the role of Sarah Palin. [33] As of 2015, she was still actively performing, [22] and by 2017 had appeared in more than one thousand pornographic films. [3] She has been described by the San Francisco Chronicle as "one of the best-known actresses in the industry" [25] and by CNBC as "a legend in the adult world". [5]

Mainstream media appearances

Hartley acted in the 1996 Canadian film Bubbles Galore [34] and has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show [16] [5] and The Phil Donahue Show to defend the pornographic film industry. [16] In the 1997 film Boogie Nights , she played William H. Macy's character's serially unfaithful wife who is murdered. [14] [28] She later remarked, "The only movie I ever died in for having sex was a mainstream movie." [14]

Hartley appeared in the 1998 documentary Traci Lords: The E! True Hollywood Story [16] and was interviewed in The Naked Feminist (2003). [35] [36] Hartley was featured in After Porn Ends (2012), and appears in Sticky: A (Self) Love Story (2016), [37] 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". [4] She has described herself both as a "classical liberal feminist" [38] [39] and a democratic socialist. [32] Hartley began engaging in feminist activism in the 1980s. [40] 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. [41]

Hartley has also been involved in socialist activism [42] and has also been affiliated with the Adult Performer Advocacy Committee (APAC), a labor union founded in 2014 for pornographic film actors. [32]

Hartley was elected to the board of the Free Speech Coalition in 1995, [43] and is a long-time board member of the Woodhull Freedom Foundation (founded in 2003). [44] She has made frequent appearances at academic conferences, workshops, and in the media to promote sex positivity. [45] She has given lectures at Dartmouth College, Harvard University, and the University of California. [46] [44]

Writing

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. [13] [9] [47] She married her first husband, a former Students for a Democratic Society leader, [9] 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". [48]

Following her divorce in 2003, [22] Hartley married Ira Levine, known professionally as Ernest Greene, [48] a director of bondage films and editor of Hustler's Taboo magazine, [9] [49] with whom she had had a secret relationship in the 1980s. [49] They are openly polyamorous. [48] [49] As of 2014, the couple lives in Los Angeles. [49]

Publications

Awards

AVN Awards

Hartley has received a number of AVN Awards, [50] including:

AVN
CategoryVideo/Film
1986 Best Couples Sex Scene - FilmTen Little Maidens
1987 Best Actress - Video Debbie Duz Dishes [51]
1989 Best Supporting Actress - Film Portrait of an Affair [52]
1989 Best Couples Sex Scene - FilmAmanda By Night II [51]
1989 Best Couples Sex Scene - VideoSensual Escape [52]
1991 Best Supporting Actress - VideoThe Last X-Rated Movie [53]
2000 Best Group Sex Scene - VideoUltimate Guide to Anal Sex for Women [54]
2005 Best Specialty Tape - BDSM Nina Hartley's Private Sessions 13 [55]
2005 Best Specialty Tape Spanking for Nina Hartley's Guide to Spanking [55]
2009 Best Non-Sex PerformanceNot Bewitched XXX [56]
2013 Game Changer [57]
AVN Hall of Fame [58]

XRCO Awards

Hartley has won a number of XRCO Awards:

XRCO Awards
YearCategoryVideo/Film
1986Best Couple Sex SceneBall Busters [59]
1987Best Couple Sex ScenePeeping Tom [59]
1987Torrid Triad SceneEvery Woman Has a Fantasy 2 [59]
1989Female Performer of the Year [59] –
1990Best Supporting ActressMy Bare Lady [59]
1990Best Girl-Girl SceneSorority Pink [59]
1996 Hall of Fame [60]
2000Best Group SceneUltimate Guide to Anal Sex for Women [61]

Other awards

Misc. Awards
YearOrganizationCategory
1988 Free Speech Coalition Lifetime Achievement Award [62]
1990 FOXE Female Fan Favorite [63]
1991FOXEFemale Fan Favorite [63]
1992FOXEFemale Fan Favorite [63]
1994Legends of EroticaHall of Fame [64] [ self-published source? ]
1996 Hot d'Or Lifetime Achievement Award [65]
2005 AEBN VOD Award Lifetime Achievement Award [66]
2005 Hustler Porn Block of Fame [67]
2006 Ninfa PublicLifetime Career Award [68]
2014 Exxxotica Fan Choice Awards Fanny Lifetime Achievement Award [69]
2014Free Speech CoalitionLeadership Award [70]
2017 XBIZ Award Specialty Release of the Year [71]
2019XBIZ AwardBest Non-Sex Acting Performance (Future Darkly: Artifamily) [72]
2020XBIZ AwardBest Non-Sex Acting Performance (Girls of Wrestling) [73]

See also

References

  1. ↑
  2. 1 2 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.
  3. 1 2
  4. 1 2 3 Morris, Chris (January 18, 2012). "10 Porn Stars Who Went Mainstream". CNBC. Retrieved March 2, 2022.
  5. 1 2 Olson (2019) , p. 137: "Born in Berkeley in March 1959, as a teenager Hartley identified as a feminist and was influenced by the 1970s feminist phrase 'my body, my rules'"
  6. 1 2 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 – via the Internet Archive.
  7. 1 2 3 "Legendary pornstar Nina Hartley". TYT's The Conversation (video). January 11, 2013 – via YouTube.[ time needed ]
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 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 – via the Internet Archive.
  9. 1 2 Nolen, Stephanie (April 24, 1999). "The thinking woman's porn star speaks out". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. p. C1. ISSN   0319-0714.
  10. ↑ Nelson, Katie (January 30, 2011). "Louis Hartman - radio personality, Zen monk - dies". San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on July 19, 2015. Retrieved August 5, 2025– via SFGate.com.
  11. 1 2 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 – via the Internet Archive. 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 – via Google Books.
  12. 1 2 3 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.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 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.
  14. ↑ Salinger, Lawrence M. (1998). Deviant Behavior 98/99. Annual Editions. McGraw-Hill Higher Education. p. 181. ISBN   978-0-697-39132-2 – via Google Books.
  15. 1 2 3 4 Terrace, Vincent (2007). Encyclopedia of Television Subjects, Themes and Settings. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company. p. 17. ISBN   978-0-7864-2498-6 – via Google Books.
  16. ↑ McNeil, Donald G. Jr. (November 6, 2012). "Pornography and AIDS: A History" . The New York Times. p. D1. ISSN   0362-4331.
  17. ↑ TheRealNinaHartley (August 27, 2015). "Ask Nina Hartley Anything: Sex, Politics and Sexual Politics. Plus Porn!" . Retrieved January 13, 2023– via Reddit.
  18. ↑ Olson, Ingrid (2022). "'I'm straight, right?': Submission, Pegging, and Coprophilia in Nina Hartley's Fan Mail Archive". In Clifford-Napoleone, Amber R. (ed.). Binding and Unbinding Kink: Pain, Pleasure, and Empowerment in Theory and Practice. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 50. doi:10.1007/978-3-031-06485-2_4. ISBN   978-3-031-06485-2 – via Google Books.
  19. ↑ Olson (2019) , p. 137: "As a young adult, [Hartley] intentionally and enthusiastically sought a career in adult films, an opportunity for her to make a life out of having sex"
  20. ↑ "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.
  21. 1 2 3 4 5 Wischhover, Cheryl (May 19, 2015). "Why I'm Still Doing Porn in My Late 50s" . Cosmopolitan. Retrieved December 5, 2015.
  22. 1 2 Ranz, Sheldon (Spring 1989). "Interview: Nina Hartley". Shmate: A Magazine of Progressive Jewish Thought. No. 22. pp. 15–29. OCLC   917517251.
  23. ↑ Olson (2019) , p. 137; Hartley (1997) , p. 58
  24. 1 2 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. 1 2 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. 1 2 3 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 – via Google Books. In the mainstream adult industry, performer and registered nurse Nina Hartley began producing and starring in a line of sex education videos for Adam and Eve, with her first two titles released in 1984.
  30. ↑ Alilunas, Peter (2016). Smutty Little Movies: The Creation and Regulation of Adult Video . Oakland: University of California Press. p. 152. ISBN   978-0-520-29171-3 – via the Internet Archive. Adam & Eve, Royalle's future distribution partner, produced two films in 1984 featuring veteran performer Nina Hartley that added an explicitly pedagogical aspect to adult film. Nina Hartley's Guide to Better Cunnilingus and Nina Hartley's Guide to Better Fellatio were the first entries in what would become a groundbreaking series of instructional videos.
  31. 1 2 3 Hitt, Tarpley (January 28, 2019). "The Hillary Clinton of Porn is a Hardcore Socialist" . The Daily Beast.
  32. ↑ "Hustler Video Does It Again With Palin Parody". Hustler World. October 8, 2008. Retrieved October 6, 2008.{{cite web}}: |archive-url= is malformed: timestamp (help)CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  33. ↑ McGregor, Glen (May 30, 1999). "Porn star bubbling over with laughs amid funding feud" . Calgary Herald. Retrieved March 26, 2019– via Newspapers.com.
  34. ↑ "the naked feminist: Louisa Achille – United States". International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam. Archived from the original on March 20, 2022. Retrieved March 20, 2022.
  35. ↑ "The Naked Feminist: 2003". The Screen Guide. Screen Australia. Retrieved January 5, 2022.
  36. ↑ Allen, Samantha (January 22, 2016). "'Sticky' Documentary Dispels Myths About Self-Love" . The Daily Beast.
  37. ↑ Kaplan, Melissa (September 26, 2015). "How These Women Are Changing Porn". ATTN. Archived from the original on May 6, 2019.
  38. ↑ 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.
  39. ↑ Thompson, Chris (April 27, 2005). "Take Back The Night, Part II". East Bay Express. Oakland, Calif. Retrieved March 2, 2022.
  40. ↑ Calvert & Richards (2006), p. 283.
  41. ↑ McLemee, Scott (February 6, 1997). "Sect Appeal". Salon. Archived from the original on February 2, 2019. Retrieved February 28, 2022.
  42. ↑ Hartley (1997), p. 59.
  43. 1 2 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.
  44. ↑ Alilunas (2016), p. 259, note 134: "An outspoken feminist, Hartley frequently appears [...] at academic conferences, workshops, and in the media to present a sex-positive message."
  45. ↑ 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.
  46. ↑ 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.
  47. 1 2 3 Glass, Jeremy (May 20, 2016). "Married Porn Star Nina Hartley on Making Polyamory Work". Thrillist. Retrieved September 6, 2024.
  48. 1 2 3 4 Lewis, Amanda (November 13, 2014). "L.A.'s BDSM Power Couple, and Their Sex Dungeon". LA Weekly. Retrieved September 6, 2024.
  49. ↑ Friedman, Gabe (June 15, 2015). "7 Jews Who Made It Big In Porn". The Forward. Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
  50. 1 2 "1987 AVN Award winners and categories". Adult Video News. Archived from the original on January 18, 2014. Retrieved December 14, 2017.
  51. 1 2 "1989 AVN Award winners and categories". Adult Video News. Archived from the original on January 18, 2014. Retrieved December 14, 2017.
  52. ↑ "1991 AVN Award winners and categories". Adult Video News. Archived from the original on January 18, 2014. Retrieved December 14, 2017.
  53. ↑ "2000 AVN Award Winners Announced". AVN. January 17, 2000. Retrieved August 5, 2025.
  54. 1 2 "2005 AVN Award winners and categories". Adult Video News. Archived from the original on January 18, 2014. Retrieved January 16, 2014.
  55. ↑ 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.
  56. ↑ Blocks, Iris (September 3, 2013). "Game Changers: 30 Women Power Players in the Adult Industry". AVN. Retrieved August 5, 2025.
  57. ↑ "25th Annual AVN Awards Show". Archived from the original on October 20, 2007. Retrieved November 14, 2017.
  58. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Nina Hartley". Aiwards.com. September 12, 2013. Retrieved August 5, 2025.[ self-published source ]
  59. ↑ "XRCO Hall of Fame" . Retrieved December 14, 2017.
  60. ↑ "XRCO Awards Not Stolen - The Show Goes On Anyway". AVN. March 20, 2000. Retrieved August 5, 2025.
  61. ↑ "11th Annual 'Night of the Stars'". Free Speech Coalition. October 24, 1998. Archived from the original on February 24, 1999.
  62. 1 2 3 "Adult Video Awards". Canbest.com. Archived from the original on June 24, 2006. Retrieved December 14, 2017.
  63. ↑ "Legends of Erotica Class of 2008". Adult Industry News (press release). December 21, 2007. Archived from the original on July 17, 2011.
  64. ↑ "Oscar Wild?" . The Des Moines Register. May 17, 1996. Retrieved April 17, 2019– via Newspapers.com.
  65. ↑ "AEBN Announces VOD Award Winners". XBIZ. March 3, 2005. Retrieved August 5, 2025.
  66. ↑ Baker, Chip (March 8, 2005). "Hartley, Spears to Enter Hustler Hollywood Walk of Fame AVN". AVN.
  67. ↑ "The FICEB Ninfa, Tacón de Aguja and HeatGay Awards". 15th Barcelona International Erotic Film Festival. n.d. Archived from the original on June 9, 2007.
  68. ↑ Warren, Peter (April 13, 2014). "2nd Annual Fannys Presented". Adult Video News. Archived from the original on June 1, 2016. Retrieved April 14, 2014.
  69. ↑ "2014 FSC Awards Winners Announced". AVN. January 8, 2014.
  70. ↑ Olson (2019), p. 137.
  71. ↑ "2019 Winners". XBIZ Awards. Archived from the original on March 1, 2022.
  72. ↑ Adams, JC (January 17, 2020). "2020 XBIZ Awards Winners Announced". XBIZ. Retrieved August 5, 2025.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.