Nina Hartley on Condoms & Porn

NL- There is a great article/interview  from HuffPo by Vanessa Pinto on Nina Hartley. Here are a few excerpts. You can read the whole thing here-

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

…The condom ordinance has been the topic of much debate, and with its passing I wondered what Nina thought the ramifications might be. This law is being sold as a health issue, but in reality it is a censorship issue. The porn industry had AIM, which was the centralized testing agency for the industry. Testing and a clean bill of health was mandatory before you walked onto a set. Will this new law help keep everyone safer? That’s the big question.
"It’s 100% a disaster, it’s politically motivated; it will put people in danger and has already done so. It’s unenforceable and against the first amendment. It’s not going to help or protect anybody. It is pure politics of the worst paternalistic anti sex-worker kind. It’s too soon to tell what the consequences are going to be," says Nina. Nina hypothesized that permits may start to get pulled for porn sets that do not comply. That would hurt the city since each permit gives the city $700.

…I recall Nina saying she wanted to be a sex worker since she was as teenager. Sex and sex work is something that has always resonated with her. Had the world been different she would have been a prostitute, but she found her niche in porn. When we were discussing this I remember asking a question even I didn’t know the answer to. Why is prostitution illegal and porn legal in California?
"If you take it back to the early ’80s when LA was trying to get porn out of the city by busting sets. They would threaten the women with charges of prostitution (a misdemeanor), or telling their families, if the women didn’t give up the producers or directors, they could charge them with pimping and pandering (felonies). Until 1988 when one producer, Hal Freeman, fought back. The State Supreme Court voted 9 – 0 that hiring people to make an adult movie was not pimping and pandering. That means that California and New Hampshire are the only states in the country that it’s legal to shoot porn in. There’s been no case law anywhere else,"says Hartley.

…"Why sex? Because sex is my thing. It is what I am about both as a queer person, but also as a nurse and a health professional. In our society sexuality is sick and sick people need a nurse’s care. I am here not just for my own jollies, of which I’ve certainly had plenty. I am also here to talk about sex with people who cannot talk about it. A nurse’s role includes education, role modeling and advocating for those who cannot speak for themselves. I educate people in safer sex and how to be better at it. I advocate about sexual freedom and sexual autonomy for people who are still in danger of losing hearth, home, children and job, should their sexual lives become known. So I am out here because I don’t have any kids to embarrass. My family knows what I do and they made their peace with it for better or for worse. I am proud of it because I have helped a lot of people. I always have done what I do not just for myself, but for people who aren’t there yet. And that’s why it’s important, sex is universal. We need people out there beating the drums, saying, ‘Consensual sex is okay,’" says Hartley.