Sara Russo

    On Monday, November 19, Nina Hartley, a veteran of more than 550 pornographic movies, visited the campus of the University of California at Berkeley to share her views on feminism and the sex-for-profit industry. Hartley was invited to campus by Take Back the Night, a UC-Berkeley student group which seeks "to promote awareness of domestic violence and sexual assault."

    Angeles Rios, the director of Berkeley's Take Back the Night chapter explained to Campus Report why the group believes that inviting a porn star to campus was consistent with their mission. "At the end of the semester one of our subjects was to cover sexual empowerment," Rios said. "We believe that ignorance is part of the rape culture and when people are more aware of their sexualities that downplays the ignorance of their own sex, and we also feel that knowing about your wants and desires and communicating that to your partners will help reduce rape, hopefully."

    Take Back the Night did not pay Hartley for her services. "I just called her up and she came over," Rios explained. "She does this a lot."

    A crowd of about 250 students attended the lecture, which included such topics as the importance of sexual experimentation and masturbation and the compatibility of the porn industry with feminism. "Porn taught me how to say what I wanted," she told the audience. "I liked the casual nature of the sex in pornography because it allowed me to be actively bisexual and curious about the body." Hartley also explained how she believes her career has benefited others. "I am always happy to hear about people who grew up on my movies," she said. "At least they are watching a woman who is having fun."

    Reflecting on the appeal of her movies, Hartley explained the differences between the scenarios in a pornographic film and in real life. "In the real world, men have to jump through a lot of hoops to get sex," Hartley explained. "Women's bodies are saying yes, but their words are saying no. In porn movies, women want it just as bad as men do. It is not 'how much money do you make, how big are your shoulders' but rather "I'm horny, you're cute, we have time."

    The porn star also advised students of both sexes on ways to improve their sexual relationships. Speaking to men, she stated, "Guys, don't be intimidated by sex toys….They are your buddy in a fox-hole. They keep going when you can't." She advised the females in the audience that, "If all women who wanted to get rid of prostitution would just enjoy fellatio, that would get rid of 50 percent of prostitutes' business right there." Hartley also made a point of denouncing capitalism and supporting the legalization of prostitution.

    Rios affirmed that she believes Hartley's work bolsters the feminist movement. "I know there's different types of pornography, there's a dark side to it, but Nina Hartley represents the positive side of it, like that she is in control," Rios told Campus Report.

    Not everyone on campus was as supportive or approving of Hartley's visit. "Yes, there were a lot of objections," Rios explained. "I think it's because they misunderstood our goals. And other people had objections because they thought that people who came may have not had the intention of seeing our goals, but just wanted to see a porn star."

    Despite criticism from some corners concerning the forum, Hartley's address was given without interruption. Others who attempted to speak at Berkeley have not been so lucky. When Daniel Flynn, executive director of Accuracy in Academia, came to Berkeley in October to speak on the guilt of Mumia Abu-Jamal, an angry mob yelled expletives to prevent him from being heard, and burned the literature he had brought to campus.

    Even more recently, when former Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu was brought to speak at a community theatre in the city of Berkeley in November, students from the University led an angry mob that broke through police barricades and ultimately caused Netanyahu to cancel his speech due to security concerns. One student recounted her experience protesting in the Berkeley student paper: "At first people were just gathering in front of the Berkeley Community Theatre. All of a sudden the air was filled with hissing and booing, the cops had set up a barricade through which to escort the incoming guests-also known as the pathetic losers who did not bother to pay attention to the news as Netanyahu turned a blind eye to Palestinians….Each step forward for us was a step back for the cops who kept retreating in terror from this peaceful, yet furious crowd."

    By contrast, no angry mob impeded the crowd from hearing Hartley's pronouncements about her life in adult entertainment. While she claimed to have no regrets about the course her career has taken, Hartley did mention one particular sacrifice. "At one point in my life I thought I would one day have kids," she said. "But then I realized that between the ages of 13 and 18 they hate you anyway, and I didn't want my kid to come home one day crying 'Mommy, Johnny's mommy says you're a whore.'" "We felt that people who would not normally come to Take Back the Night events came," concluded Rios, "and maybe we gave [them] something that could help them."