The Grande Dame of Porn

Nina Hartley has had a lot of sex. At 47, she has been in the porn industry for 22 years and appeared in more than 600 movies. Just Sharon Kane did more. For nearly two decades, she has used the knowledge gleaned from her unconventional life and career to teach others through her line of sex-instruction videos. The first two, Nina Hartley's Guide to Better Cunnilingus and Nina Hartley's Guide to Better Fellatio, were instant hits when they debuted in 1994, and they remain bestsellers today. The video series, which is distributed by Adam & Eve, has produced 32 titles and sold more than 500,000 copies. She is a one-woman sex-education empire, and she recently expanded her territory with the publication of her first book, Nina Hartley's Guide to Total Sex.

EZ: How have your years in the business resulted in your preeminence?
Nina Hartley: I wouldn't go away, is all. I was here for me and for those who are receptive to my message. I wasn't really concerned with any of the other drama.

EZ: How has the business changed since you first started? For the better or the worse?
Nina Hartley: It's bigger, broader, easier to find and to get into, easier to discard. It's better in that there is some peer support, in the form of our health clinic, AIM, that there wasn't before. It's worse in that it's harder to get out when you should, or want to.

EZ: Is the political climate hostile to porn? To sex in general?
Nina Hartley: The political climate will always be somewhat hostile to porn, as our Calvinist roots will always be made uncomfortable by the pleasures of the body.

EZ: Is there anything we can do (as pornographers) to improve the climate? Or make better porn?
Nina Hartley: No. In a culture as conflicted about sex and sexuality as ours is, porn will always suck. We don't respect sex, or those who have it, and certainly not those who flaunt it. We get the porn we deserve and that's why so much of it is of such poor quality.

Source: EZ