Nina Hartley
Template:Short description Template:Use American English Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox person Marie Louise Hartman (born 1959), known professionally as Nina Hartley,<ref name="legal name">Template:Multiref2</ref> is an American pornographic film actress and sex educator.<ref name="sex educator">Template:Multiref2</ref> By 2017 she had appeared in more than one thousand adult films.Template:R She has been described by Las Vegas Weekly as an "outspoken feminist" and "advocate for sexual freedom",Template:R and by CNBC as "a legend in the adult world".Template:R
Early life and education
Hartley was born in Berkeley, California in March 1959,<ref name="Olson p137">Template:Harvp</ref> the youngest of four children<ref name="Hartley p57">Template:Cite book</ref> of a Lutheran father, Louis Hartman, and a Jewish mother, Blanche Hartman (née Gelders).<ref name="TYT 2013">Template:Cite episodeTemplate:Time needed</ref> 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.<ref name="Schlosser 2003">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="TYT 2013" />
Hartley's parents converted to Buddhism when she was young.<ref name="Nolen 1999">Template:Cite news</ref> Her mother supported the family as a biochemistTemplate:R after her father, San Francisco radio announcer Louis Hartman, was blacklisted in 1957 for his communist beliefs.<ref name="Nelson 2011">Template:Cite news</ref>
As a teenager, Hartley self-identified as a feminist, influenced by the slogan "my body, my rules".Template:R 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,Template:R<ref name="Salinger 1998">Template:Cite book</ref> receiving a Bachelor of Science in Nursing.<ref name="Terrace p17">Template:Cite book</ref> She was a registered nurse<ref name="McNeil 2012">Template:Cite news</ref>Template:R until her license expired in 1986.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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.<ref name="Olson 2022">Template:Cite book</ref> She deliberately sought a career in pornography as a way to make a living by having sex,<ref name="make a living">Template:Harvp</ref> later telling Las Vegas Weekly, "Porn gave me easy access to women without having to date them or have a relationship."<ref name="Comella 2010">Template:Cite magazine</ref> She writes that part of her reason for choosing sex work was to be able to indulge her exhibitionistic and voyeuristic streak.Template:R 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="TYT 2013" />
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.<ref name="Wischhover 2015">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Ranz 1989">Template:Cite magazine</ref> 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."<ref name="Ranz 1989" />
Her pornographic film debut was in Educating Nina (1984),<ref>Template:Harvp; Template:Harvp</ref> where she was cast and directed by fellow performer Juliet Anderson.Template:R<ref name="Fagan 2010">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> For many years, she toured the United States and Canada as a stripper and made personal appearances at sex shops.<ref name="O'Connell 1992" /><ref name="Robbins 1998">Template:Cite news</ref> Hartley describes her father's reaction to her choice of occupation:
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).<ref name="O'Connell 1992">Template:Cite news</ref> In 1992, she directed her first movie, Nina Hartley's Book of Love.<ref name="White 1992">Template:Cite news</ref> She also produced and starred in a series of sex education videos for Adam & Eve.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In 1994, she began her line of instructional videos marketed under the Nina Hartley's Guide brand.<ref name="Robbins 1998" />
She played the part of Hillary Clinton in the 2008 satirical pornographic film Who's Nailin' Paylin?,Template:R with Lisa Ann in the role of Sarah Palin.<ref name="Hustler World 2008">Template:Cite web</ref> Template:As of, she was still actively performing,Template:R and by 2017 had appeared in more than one thousand pornographic films.<ref name="Miranda 2017">Template:Cite news</ref> She has been described by the San Francisco Chronicle as "one of the best-known actresses in the industry"Template:R and by CNBC as "a legend in the adult world".<ref name="Morris 2012">Template:Cite news</ref>
Mainstream media appearances
Hartley acted in the 1996 Canadian film Bubbles Galore<ref name="McGregor 1999">Template:Cite news</ref> and has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey ShowTemplate:R and The Phil Donahue Show to defend the pornographic film industry.Template:R In the 1997 film Boogie Nights, she played William H. Macy's character's serially unfaithful wife who is murdered.<ref name="Calvert 2006">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Robbins 1998" /> She later remarked, "The only movie I ever died in for having sex was a mainstream movie."Template:R
Hartley appeared in the 1998 documentary Traci Lords: The E! True Hollywood StoryTemplate:R and was interviewed in The Naked Feminist (2003).<ref name="IDFA">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Hartley was featured in After Porn Ends (2012), and appears in Sticky: A (Self) Love Story (2016),<ref name="Allen 2016">Template:Cite web</ref> 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.Template: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".<ref name="trailblazer">Template:Multiref2</ref> She has described herself both as a "classical liberal feminist"<ref name="Kaplan 2015">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Shaffer 2010">Template:Cite magazine</ref> and a democratic socialist.<ref name="Hitt 2019">Template:Cite news</ref> Hartley began engaging in feminist activism in the 1980s.<ref name="Thompson 2005">Template:Cite web</ref> She has said:
Hartley has also been involved in socialist activism<ref name="McLemee 1997">Template:Cite web</ref> and has also been affiliated with the Adult Performer Advocacy Committee (APAC), a labor union founded in 2014 for pornographic film actors.Template:R
Hartley was elected to the board of the Free Speech Coalition in 1995,Template:Sfnp and is a long-time board member of the Woodhull Freedom Foundation (founded in 2003).Template:R She has made frequent appearances at academic conferences, workshops, and in the media to promote sex positivity.<ref name="Alilunas 2016">Template:Cite book</ref> She has given lectures at Dartmouth College, Harvard University, and the University of California.<ref name="Niemietz 2018">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Farris 2018">Template:Cite news</ref>
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.Template:R 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".Template:R
Personal life
Hartley is a self-described bisexual, swinger, and exhibitionist.Template:R<ref name="Mourra 2008">Template:Cite news</ref> She married her first husband, a former Students for a Democratic Society leader,Template:R in a three-way marriage with a second woman in 1986.Template:R She describes the relationship as a "very unhappy marriage" to "someone who was not a good candidate for mating with a sex worker".Template:R
Following her divorce in 2003,Template:R Hartley married Ira Levine, known professionally as Ernest Greene,Template:R a director of bondage films and editor of Hustler's Taboo magazine,Template:R with whom she had had a secret relationship in the 1980s.<ref name="Lewis 2014">Template:Cite news</ref> They are openly polyamorous.<ref name="Glass 2016">Template:Cite web</ref>Template:R Template:As of, the couple lives in Los Angeles.Template:R
Publications
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Awards
AVN Awards
Hartley has received a number of AVN Awards,<ref name="Friedman 2015">Template:Cite news</ref> including:
| Category | Video/Film |
|---|---|
| 1986 Best Couples Sex Scene - Film | Ten Little Maidens |
| 1987 Best Actress - Video | Debbie Duz Dishes<ref name="Adult Video News 3">Template:Cite web</ref> |
| 1989 Best Supporting Actress - Film | Portrait of an Affair<ref name="Adult Video News 2">Template:Cite web</ref> |
| 1989 Best Couples Sex Scene - Film | Amanda By Night II<ref name="Adult Video News 3" /> |
| 1989 Best Couples Sex Scene - Video | Sensual Escape<ref name="Adult Video News 2" /> |
| 1991 Best Supporting Actress - Video | The Last X-Rated Movie<ref name="Adult Video News 4">Template:Cite web</ref> |
| 2000 Best Group Sex Scene - Video | Ultimate Guide to Anal Sex for Women<ref name="AVN 2000a">Template:Cite news</ref> |
| 2005 Best Specialty Tape - BDSM | Nina Hartley's Private Sessions 13<ref name="Adult Video News">Template:Cite web</ref> |
| 2005 Best Specialty Tape | Spanking for Nina Hartley's Guide to Spanking<ref name="Adult Video News" /> |
| 2009 Best Non-Sex Performance | Not Bewitched XXX<ref name="Sullivan 2009">Template:Cite web</ref> |
| 2013 Game Changer<ref name="Blocks 2013">Template:Cite news</ref> | |
| AVN Hall of Fame<ref name="25th Annual AVN Awards Show">Template:Cite web</ref> | |
XRCO Awards
Hartley has won a number of XRCO Awards:
| Year | Category | Video/Film |
|---|---|---|
| 1986 | Best Couple Sex Scene | Ball Busters<ref name="Aiwards.com">Template:Cite webTemplate:Self-published source</ref> |
| 1987 | Best Couple Sex Scene | Peeping Tom<ref name="Aiwards.com" /> |
| 1987 | Torrid Triad Scene | Every Woman Has a Fantasy 2<ref name="Aiwards.com" /> |
| 1989 | Female Performer of the Year<ref name="Aiwards.com" /> | – |
| 1990 | Best Supporting Actress | My Bare Lady<ref name="Aiwards.com" /> |
| 1990 | Best Girl-Girl Scene | Sorority Pink<ref name="Aiwards.com" /> |
| 1996 | Hall of Fame<ref name="XRCO Hall of Fame">Template:Cite web</ref> | |
| 2000 | Best Group Scene | Ultimate Guide to Anal Sex for Women<ref name="AVN 2000b">Template:Cite news</ref> |
Other awards
| Year | Organization | Category |
|---|---|---|
| 1988 | Free Speech Coalition | Lifetime Achievement Award<ref name="Free Speech Coalition 1998">Template:Cite web</ref> |
| 1990 | FOXE | Female Fan Favorite<ref name="CanBest">Template:Cite web</ref> |
| 1991 | FOXE | Female Fan Favorite<ref name="CanBest" /> |
| 1992 | FOXE | Female Fan Favorite<ref name="CanBest" /> |
| 1994 | Legends of Erotica | Hall of Fame<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Self-published inline |
| 1996 | Hot d'Or | Lifetime Achievement Award<ref name="Des Moines Register 1996">Template:Cite news</ref> |
| 2005 | AEBN VOD Award | Lifetime Achievement Award<ref name="XBIZ 2005">Template:Cite news</ref> |
| 2005 | Hustler | Porn Block of Fame<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
| 2006 | Ninfa Public | Lifetime Career Award<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
| 2014 | Exxxotica Fan Choice Awards | Fanny Lifetime Achievement Award<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
| 2014 | Free Speech Coalition | Leadership Award<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
| 2017 | XBIZ Award | Specialty Release of the YearTemplate:Sfnp |
| 2019 | XBIZ Award | Best Non-Sex Acting Performance (Future Darkly: Artifamily)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
| 2020 | XBIZ Award | Best Non-Sex Acting Performance (Girls of Wrestling)<ref name="Adams 2020">Template:Cite news</ref> |
See also
References
Further reading
- Template:Cite book Contains a chapter on Hartley.
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book Contains an essay and introduction by Hartley.
- Template:Cite book Contains a chapter on Hartley.
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite web
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book Contains an interview with Hartley.
External links
- 1959 births
- 20th-century American actresses
- 21st-century American actresses
- Actresses from Berkeley, California
- American female erotic dancers
- American pornographic film directors
- American women nurses
- Jewish American actresses
- American pornographic film actresses
- American sex educators
- American women film directors
- Berkeley High School (Berkeley, California) alumni
- Bisexual pornographic film actresses
- Bisexual Jews
- American LGBTQ film directors
- LGBTQ people from California
- Living people
- Pornographic film actors from California
- San Francisco State University alumni
- Bisexual feminists
- American sex worker activists
- Women pornographic film directors
- Polyamorous people
- American feminist writers
- American bisexual actresses
- American bisexual writers
- Jewish LGBTQ women
- Pseudonymous actors